


What a Time to be Alive

by Dr_Mini_Me



Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: Bella is being hit on by Rose like 24-7, Catharin is from my For the First Time Story, Dragged her on over, F/M, Human until a while after story begins, I Tried, Main is Emmett/OFC, OFC is Bella's twin sister, Rest of Cullens are established relationships, The Author Regrets Nothing, some humour?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-07-11 05:57:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 39,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7031836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dr_Mini_Me/pseuds/Dr_Mini_Me
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So...your mother was on an Italian kick and named your older sister, Isabella Marie, but then she was pregnant with you and you got stuck with Ivalyn Marie, because she wanted your initials to match and liked 'Evalyn'. Whats even better is when you move to Forks and get slammed with a pale guy the size of a bear and a cute smile...but your family doesn't really approve (Emmett/OC).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

I felt my hair being pulled and shifted into a ponytail as I sat on my sister's bed. I was facing the window, looking out onto a tree and the dismal background I'd come to know as Forks, Washington.

I wanted to move to Portland with Phil's job but noooo. We had to give mom and her boyfriend some alone time and we needed supervision. Well Bella wanted supervision, I felt like the entire notion was ridiculous.

I had fun with my mom, we were similar with the flighty instincts and habits of getting ourselves into certain not so good situations. Bella was honestly the adult out of the three of us, she kept us fed and the money in check. I think the flighty bit was honestly where 'Isabella' and 'Ivalyn' came from, she was apparently on an Italian kick when she was pregnant. Mom just sort of went along with every idea I had, even if it wasn't the best idea.

Mom started ballet with me to drop it for yoga, then we started fencing which I stuck with for a little over a year before I dropped it and dragged mom into quilting. Now that was one of our worst ideas. I wound up sewing my pants and the edge of mom's t-shirt to my quilt leaving Bella to drive us back.

"Ivy?" I looked up from the rain spattered window to see my sister waving her hand in front of my face.

"Sorry." I snickered as I stood and stretched a little, hearing my joints pop as Bella's face scrunched up with disgust.

"If you're sorry, _why_ do you keep _doing_ it _?_ " She asked sounding annoyed as she pulled on a sweater and pulled a hat down over my ears.

"Its fun." I declared with a grin as I moved the hat up a little.

"Its raining outside, not snowing." I declared when s he went to adjust it again. The second time she tried is when I swatted her hands away, saying something along the lines of 'hiss-hiss' with a little more spit than I meant to use.

"You'll thank me when you're waiting around outside." She warned as I shifted the hat again and followed her down the stairs. Charlie was already gone, old coffee and stale half eaten bread left behind on the kitchen table. I pulled on one boot then another as Bella opened the front door.

"What?" I asked as I peered over her shoulder to see why she was just standing in the middle of the door way.

"Weather here is weird." She mumbled as she went out the door, her coat's fabric rustled against itself as she took the steps carefully. I closed the door when I heard a "oompf" and glanced over my shoulder as I locked it.

"You get a 4. Didn't sound very enthusiastic." I declared, rating her fall as I stuck down a hand.

"It was wet. Anyone could have fallen." She glared at me as she took my hand and pulled herself shakily off the wet cement, it'd stopped raining it seemed.

"Right. Just _happened_ to be you...Like last time...Like every time." I grinned as I stuck my hands in my pockets and started to walk towards the end of the drive way. We choose not to waste the gas when the grocery store was that close by, felt like the crustacean of a car would guzzle it. I jumped in a few puddles on our way to the grocery store then quickly got bored and cold when the water started to soak into my shoes and socks.

I was elected to push the cart, stopping every few paces when Bella saw something to check off of her list. Eventually I started to wander ahead of her, it was all fine and good until I ran into someone.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry." I exclaimed as I went around the cart to help up a boy around my age. He waved me off with a good-natured grin as he stood, dusting himself off.

"Mike Newton." He introduced himself and held out a hand.

"Uh...Iva Swan." I stared at it for a second before quickly shaking it. I was expecting more of a 'what the hell is wrong with you, look where you're going' kinda thing, not a 'hey how are you?'. I didn't want to say my name to this kid that potentially was going to high school with me. When your name sounds like you coughed at the beginning of Evalyn and someone wrote it down, you didn't go around shouting it from the rooftops, especially not in high school. Kids were frickin' vicious.

"Oh yeah, the chief's kids! Don't you have a sister or something?" He snapped his fingers as he remembered, running his eyes up and down my 5'1 body. _Whew_ this is a small town. I opened my mouth to respond when someone else did it for me.

"Ivie!" I could hear Bella shouting and turned my head to see her speed walking with a head of lettuce in her hands.

"Shes right there." I smiled at Mike as I jerked my thumb back over my shoulder at her. She was only little over a year and a month older but due to the birthday months and the way Fork's school worked, we were together in the same year. It was a little exciting to know she'd be graduating in two years with me.

"Ival!-" She started to scold as I stopped her, slinging an arm around her shoulders.

"This is Mike Newton!" I exclaimed with a forced smile. Her eyes drifted to Mike who stood there smiling awkwardly as hell.

"Oh. Hello. Bella Swan." She'd started to try and scold me when I motioned to Mike, stopping her scolding in the process.

"Nice to meet you two! I'm guessing you'll go to Forks? I mean its kinda the only high school you could go to unless you went to Port Angeles or if you're part Quileute..." Mike continued on with us nodding every once in a while. Instead of yelling at me for disappearing, she now just sort of stood there nodding to herself and squeezing lettuce. A minute of him talking went by.

"Hey, well its great to meet you! We've gotta get back and all." I sighed and interrupted him when he went to take a breath.

"Of course, see you guys at school tomorrow!" I shook his hand roughly and pushed the buggy forwards towards the frozen area. Bella tsked at my rudeness once we were a little ways away from him.

"You would have totally just stood there all day while he talked. You're lucky I'm this level of rude." I waved a finger as her as she rolled her eyes and finally deposited the head of lettuce into the cart and checked her list off again.

We practically dragged everything through the mud and wet rain back to our house where Bella promptly fell in front of the stairs again. I didn't comment on it this time, she _was_ unbalanced with the bags so I was giving her leeway on that. I stepped over her, putting groceries in the house when Charlie pulled up.

"Bells? Ivy, help your sister up for goodness sakes!" He motioned to Bella still staring up at the misty sky when I came out of the house. I walked down the steps to look over her frame. She glared at me.

"Do you want help?" I raised a brow as I hesitantly dropped a hand down to her level.

"No. I'm good." She pushed it away, moving to get up from her knees now.

"See? She's fine." I made a dismissive hand gesture to Charlie who huffed and muttered something to himself under his breath as he stomped into the house.

Dinner flew by which left me to unpack. I may have been avoiding this for a while now. We'd gotten here Friday, two days ago, and while Bella had steadily unpacked I put it off to hang with Jacob Black or watch TV, or go grocery shopping, or read a book, or play the ukulele...I'm really good at avoiding things like responsibilities and consequences.

When we were little, Bella was always the outgoing one, stepping outside before me. The tables had turned since we'd last come around to Forks when we were 7, I was now the louder, outgoing one while Bella stood next to me. She was protective still but more along the lines of keeping my ass out of juvy or getting kicked out of school. I started to fiddle with hair brushes and a string of lights that were tangled together.

I think how quiet she'd become had thrown Charlie off. On the ride home, she sat in front while I stared out the window in the backseat. He made conversation about her hair then said mine was curly. That was the first sign Charlie had absolutely no idea what to do with two teenage daughters. She was close to 18 while I was a close to 17...like a week.

"Bella?" I called out as I paused my fiddling, I swear I can feel eyes on me. Its kinda creepin' me out.

"What?" She asked expectantly, appearing in the doorway. I started to look around the room and elected to close the curtains from the dark outside. I couldn't see past the glare of room's light and that in itself sort of creeped me out too.

"Any idea where my Ukulele is?" I asked with a grin forming, trying to ignore the creep feeling in the back of my head.

"Not _my_ tiny guitar to keep up with." She rolled her eyes and shook her head, turning and leaving for her room across the hall. I sighed as I slid into bed and pulled the covers up to pause. Oh. I was still in my jeans...I don't care that much.

I pulled off my socks with my toes and leaned over for the light, flipping it. I was left in darkness as I stared up at the ceiling with only my thoughts and the sound of rain hitting the window. I don't really want to do tomorrow. Or today really. I was good without either of them, it was Bella who got me out of bed.

* * *

"Get. Up." Bella was hissing at me from over the blankets, tugging on them.

"Just go without me." I groaned for a second time as I twisted the covers around my frame even tighter. She seemed to disappear for a while as I drifted back into a deep sleep.

"AH, COLD!" I screamed as I scrambled out of bed in a dazed panic. I got one foot out but the other was caught in the sheets, making me smack into the nightstand as I went. I pretty much collapsed on the floor, with wet hair and a wet back. One foot was still trapped in the bed spread and the other with a slight cut on the knee when I hit the furniture. I stared hazily at Bella through tired narrow eyes as she started to snort then bent at the waist laughing.

"Bi-tch." I snapped the first half out before I yawned and finished it. She shrugged still snickering as she left the room her, taking the half filled soup pot with her. I didn't even think Charlie _had_ a soup pot.


	2. Chapter 2

"No." I pouted as I sat inside Bella's warm truck with the air vents pointed towards me. I was refusing to leave the truck's warmth, the cold chills outside paired with my wet hair had me in knots.

"Fine, we'll do it the hard way then." She narrowed her eyes and reached over opening the door on my side, I flinched as all the cold air invaded my warmth. She undid my seat belt and flipped in her seat, pushing me out by my thighs with her feet.

"OKAY." I had one leg balanced poorly on the icey pavement with the other still in the car as I held on to the seat belt and the oh shit bar above the door. She looked satisfied as I stepped down from the truck and crossed my arms over my chest after I slammed the door shut.

I hiked my messenger bag's strap across my shoulder and hesitantly stepped off the ice patch I was on now, following Bella into the school. She was really only theone to move first if I refused and apparently this was one of those times.

I grabbed my little piece of paper from the secretary and wandered the halls until I came to building 3. I started to look at the number plates until I found the one I wanted and tried to slide in the door unnoticed. I didn't even get a foot in the door really.

"Ah! Bonjour! You must be Ivalyn Swan, I'm Madame Silvia." The female teacher of course noticed me immediately and grinned, stopping her lecture. I nodded awkwardly shuffling into the classroom as I handed the paper to her. She jotted whatever it was I needed on it and stood awkwardly as she seemed to think about something, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Have a seat by Mr Cullen in the back row." She nodded towards a honey blonde with dark circles under his eyes and perfect posture. He glanced at me for a second, chilling me slightly, before going back to stare at the white board behind us. OKAY THEN.

I shuffled awkwardly to the back and scooted my chair as far as I possibly could to the other side of the table. He gave me the creeps in a bad way but it seemed to amuse him. He had the tiniest of smiles cropping up on the side. I glanced him over from the corner of my eye, he striked me as oddly dressed for a 17 or 18 year old teenage boy. They don't usually wear button ups with sweaters, do they? Was I just really out of the loop?

I spent most of the class, jotting down notes and glancing at the oddball from the corner of my eye. He seemed fine to keep to his side of the table, even waiting for me to pack up all my things before pushing in his seat and standing. He never said anything or even really looked at me after the front of the class thing.

I walked rather quickly meeting eyes with a pale blonde haired girl with gold eyes, she had _really_ long hair, it fell down to her hips straight as a board but she had a nice soft smile.

"Hi there." She nodded to me. She was pretty in an old, elegant way. Her clothes said money from the quality and the fact that I didn't think anyone else wore crap like that, but she seemed comfortable in them. I was almost a little attracted to her as she held my eyes but her's quickly darted away as I came out of the exit. I glanced back to see the creepy guy pick up her hand and kissed it softly and sped my pace up as he met eyes with me.

* * *

"How was french?" Bella asked me as I pursed my lips at the array of lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, and apples?

"Meh. There was this weird pale guy with blonde hair that kept glaring at the teacher." I commented as I poked through the lettuce with the tongs.

"Biology was...weird. I think I made this guy mad by sitting next to him." She sighed as I piled on cucumbers and a few apple slices, both were my favorite. I went to take a step forward when Bella jerked me back from walking into the guy we met in the grocery store.

"Oh. Hello." I smiled at him as he beamed back at us.

"Hey! Remember me from Ced's?" He had blue eyes and serious baby face, but I couldn't remember his name still.

"Right. Almost killed you with a grocery cart." I grinned back nodding slowly, I was still avoiding his name. If all else fails I'll just call him sweetie or honey. He'll never know I totally forgot his name.

"Ah yeah. Good memories. I could help but notice you two looked a little lost, wanna come sit by me?" He asked as he motioned to a table containing an Asian looking boy, and three other girls. I bit my lip as I thought about it but he seemed to have other ideas as he threw an arm around my shoulders and led us towards the table. All I could think as they introduced themselves was that it was more names that I'd never remember.

"I think we have French class together. Ivalyn Swan right?" A kind looking girl with glasses asked me this as I felt my eyebrow twitch.

"Ah yeah! Just call me Ivy or Iva or literally anything but Ivalyn." I gritted my teeth as my voice became lithy and light.

"But Ivalyn's great! Its fun, better than Jessica." A brown haired girl with lip gloss and a perky tone waved her fork at us. I guessed she was Jessica.

"Our mom just wanted our initials to match." I shrugged awkwardly as I took a bite out of a brownish apple slice. The conversation drifted away from my name and a little while later I realised the table had gone silent. I looked up to see everyone looking at something behind me and turned my head to see a set of pale people come in one after another, all with the odd gold eyes and pretty elegance.

"What are we looking at?" I asked, glancing around.

 **"** The Cullens." The girl with glasses answered in a low voice.

 **"** They're, um, Dr. and Mrs. Cullen's foster kids. They moved down here from Alaska, like, a few years ago." The other one, Jessica probably, started to talk with a small mischievous grin.

"They kind of keep to themselves." The glasses girl spoke again, shrugging. She seemed uncomfortable with the gossip. I glanced back

 **"** Yeah cause they're all together, Angela. Its weird. They're weird." This girl's name I remembered simply because she annoyed me so much with her white blonde hair and nasal voice. It was Lauren.

"Together?" Bella asked with curiosity in her voice.

"like _together_ together. Uh, the first blonde girl, that's Rosalie Hale, and the big dark hair guy next to her is Emmett. They're not actually together as far as _we_ know anyways." Jessica determined motioning to the pair.

"Hes cute." I commented offhandedly. Out of all the cullens, he seemed least likely to beat the crap out of me. The bigger guy Emmett met my eyes, he began to grin shyly at first until I frowned at him.

"Hes nice but he's not that interested in anyone. I wouldn't bother if I were you." Jessica sounded like she was pouting.

"I don't think that was really on my mind, thanks though." I replied sarcastically. I felt a little creepy, staring at the guy but then he let out a bout of booming laughter. I swear I could hear my fillings shake in my mouth but at the same time, the sound sort of brought a smile to my face as I looked back at Jessica with a raised brow.

"Whatever. Then the _super_ long hair girl is Catharin Hale, she's Rosalie's twin. The guy next to her, that looks like hes in pain, yeah that's Jasper. They're like a thing. I'm not even sure that's legal." Jessica huffed as I looked over from her back to the couple. He looked less scary around her, with her around, I could _totally_ sit next to him and not feel like I was about to piss myself.

"Jess, they're not actually related. Plus, shes really nice." Angela chastised her as they passed us, sitting down across the cafeteria. No one really sat near them, they seemed isolated in their own little island of sorts.

"Yeah she talks to us, but they live together. It's weird…and, okay, the little dark-haired girl is Alice. She's really weird, but, um…she's with Edward, the redhead one who looks like he's constipated. I mean, Dr. Cullen's like this foster dad slash match maker." Jessica sort of threw her hands up into the air with exasperation as Lauren nodded next to her.

 **"** Maybe he'll adopt me." Angela put her hands under her chin as she looked at the Cullens behind us.

"He'd adopt _me_ before he adopted you, Angie." Lauren declared with a snort. Angela seemed to roll her eyes at the comment but let it go.

"I don't see what the big deal is." Mike looked downtrodden as Bella continued to look back at the Cullens.

"Uh...they're all smoking hot and only two of them are single, Micheal. What wouldn't the big deal be there?" Lauren looked like this was obvious to everyone as Jessica nodded. Angela didn't seem to say anything, talking to the asian boy. Erik. Or was it Erin? WAIT. Was she called Erin? Have I been mistaking her as an Angela this entire time? I frowned into the air as I sighed at it. No. She had to be Angela.

"Bella. Bella!" I hissed in a whisper as the table seemed distracted by the conversation. She was still staring at the Cullens and jumped when I elbowed her.

"What?" She looked back at me, blushing now. I raised my brows as I took in her expression.

"You...you have a crush." I began to grin as her face turned into a glare.

"I do not." She defended, crossing her arms over her chest. She was blushing harder now as well. I felt the grin grow as I mhm'd her sarcastically.

"Well we both know you have a crush on the big guy." She deflected as I rolled my eyes.

"He's eye candy, Bells." I shrugged then paused as she tried to glance back over her shoulder inconspicuously.

I followed her eyes to the blonde one, not Cathy or whatever but the other one. Rosalie, I think. She looked annoyed as she glanced between the black haired girl who seemed to be talking, and Bella's wandering eyes. Interesting. I smell matchmaking happening in the future.

* * *

"Can you please try to not be so late to class in the future, Ms Swan?" Mr Robinson looked annoyed as I stumbled into the English room last minute after wandering around some. I got lost in the crowds of people after lunch. Hell I'd get lost in an empty hallway right now.

"Sorry sir." I frowned as I tried to stop breathing so hard and handed him my slip of paper. He handed it back with a grunt and went back around his desk, I looked around awkwardly as a sea of faces I didn't really recognize until someone started waving. I looked up about two rows back to see the pale blonde girl from outside the french room smiling and motioning to the seat next to her. Alright. Better than standing here some more.

"Hi there, I'm Catharin Whi-Hale. Sorry, sometimes I just stutter." She shook her head as she corrected the last word with a small smile. She seemed to have a bit of a southern accent, leaving me to wonder where she was from.

"Ivy, this may sound totally weird but where are you from?" I nodded to her as I sat down and pulled all my sheets of paper out of the bag.

"Oh, its not strange at all. I'm from Savannah Georgia." She smiled and folded her hands across the desk, friendly. She wasn't nearly as scary as the guy was in French class, so I didn't try to keep to the farthest edge of the table. I even walked with her for a bit until we got to my locker. She was asking me about the weather and how I liked it in Forks so far.

"It's been alright, I guess." I shrugged. She let out a small laugh as she nodded, looking forwards.

"Well, I um wanted to apologize for Jasper's behavior in your class." She gave me a small smile. It didn't quite reach her eyes though as she switched legs to stand on.

"Oh. He didn't do anything." I froze as I bit my lip and responded awkwardly. The hall began to empty out as we stood there, chatting.

"You just looked a little shook up when you left this morning. Sometimes Jasper...hmmm." She shrugged then paused, putting a hand to her chin as she tried to find the right word. I felt like Bella was going to start to look for me soon considering the hallway was now totally empty.

"Sometimes hes just a little standoffish, I guess." She finished with a small smile. I shrugged as I looked behind her, it seemed to be Jasper. He didn't really look at me, his eyes were focused mainly on her back as he came closer and closer.

"Oh. I thought you'd be with Em and Rose by now." She looked surprised to see him there. I didn't say anything, watching him slide an arm around her waist.

"They've...gotten into it again. I was wonderin' where you were at so we could bail early." I was a little taken aback when I heard him speak. They both had a southern accent but hers only jumped up every other word while his seemed to hang on the end of each of his sentences. Living in Arizona most of my life, I hadn't really heard anything like it before.

"I should probably go then. Nice to meet you..." I bit my lip as I froze on her name. _Shit._

"Catharin." She added. Jasper raised a brow while she looked patient.

"Right! I'm Ivy." I started to nod, right. Catharin.

"I know." She started to smile a little deeper as she nodded.

"And I'm Jasper." I glanced between the two as Jasper introduced himself again.

"I knew that." I nodded, pursing my lips. He looked like he was concealing laughter as he looked at me, backing up slowly with my bag over my shoulder.

"Of course. See you tomorrow!" Catharin smiled at me and waved. I gave a short wave back as Jasper nodded at me. I turned my back and started speed walking. That was probably the worst introductions I'd ever had, ever. I'd _never_ forget their names now.


	3. Chapter 3

I was staring blankly at an empty page that was supposed to be filled with math notes and homework. I'd originally gone into french this morning, not knowing I even had Math, luckily Madame Silvia explained what the hell was going on. My schedule was odd to me, it seemed that we had one set of classes every other day, like monday, wednesday, and friday were the shorter days where I'd have chemistry, french, then English. But today I had math, PE, some art class, _and_ history.

"Didn't do the homework, huh?" I looked up at the deep voice to see the big guy from before leaning over to look at my empty paper. Emmett. I remembered him the best from yesterday. He had a pretty smile, all dimpled. He stared at me as I stared back at him until I realised how creepy I was being and looked away to the front of the class.

"Yeah. Didn't even know I had this class." I shrugged, nonchalant.

"Yeah. You'll have it every Tuesday and Thursday." He seemed to chuckle as I looked over at him when he stuck out a hand.

"I'm Emmett Cullen." He said, shaking my hand softly. His seemed to totally envelop mine, it was like it'd been sucked into a giant pale black hole that was his hand but at the same time, it was almost comforting. The thought had me a little worried as I realised I hadn't responded and he was still holding my hand. SAY SOMETHING, IVY.

"I know." I mentally slapped myself as he started to grin.

"Oh and I'm Ivy." Okay so I got my name out. I could feel a smile pop up on my face as his made me realise how ridiculous the situation was. What was it about Cullens that had me tongue tied?

"I know. You met my brother and his girl, Catharin yesterday." He nodded, starting to chuckle.

"Oh yeah." I nodded, snickering.

"That was a trainwreck." I pulled my hand out of his to put it to my forehead and cover my face as I groaned.

"I heard." He snorted. Usually I'd get a little pissed off at people laughing at my fuck-ups but him doing it just made me want to laugh with him. I think it was just the sound of his laugh that made me want to smile.

"Okay, lets see homework." The teacher walked in right as the bell rung and set all his stuff down on the desk in one loud drop. I felt a weight lodge in my throat and the blood run from my face as he looked around the room expectantly. I waited until class was over to explain it to him, he said I'd just have to turn it in Thursday with the other work.

I left the class in a huff to find my next one and was halfway down the crowded hall when I felt air drift over my shoulder. I looked back and jumped a little to Emmett's shoulder near my line of sight.

"Sorry. Thought I'd walk you to the gym since you get lost so often, sweetheart." He grinned at my reaction. I could feel some bloody rush to my ears at the nickname but dismissed it.

"You might be late to your class if you do." I peered at him with a furrowed brow as he shrugged.

"I don't have one right now." He shrugged, nonchalant.

"Then you take PE on Mondays?" I checked then frowned as he shook his head.

"Nope." He popped the P with a grin.

"What the hell, you don't take PE at _all_?" I asked incredulously. He was so buff. How did he keep the muscles if he never worked out?...Was it steroids?

"Now you're getting it!" He grinned as he tossed an arm around my shoulders and kept walking. It was probably steroids. We came through the gym doors to find it half filled already, some were stretching or standing in groups chatting. Bella caught my eyes and began to grin, looking victorious.

All night last night she was bugging me about Emmett Cullen for bugging her about staring at Rosalie. Then she got _Charlie_ to join in, first he was a little protective then it became a bit of a game. He wanted to know all about 'the strapping young man', especially when Bella informed our kids would either be ridiculously tall, or really short...I may flipped her off for that one and...then got told off by Charlie. I watched Bella take a step forward towards us as we stopped in the middle of the room. Emmett was still talking when I made a split decision.

"Gotta go!" I darted out from under his arm and made a mad dash to the locker room in some attempt to deflect Bella's advances. I could hear his laugh when the door had just shut and tried to keep a smile off my face in case anyone asked why. There were a few girls in here, the Catharin girl from before had just finished changing when she waved at me as she left. The other one was the brunette from before and her gal pal... _Lauren._

"God. Did you see Cat's hair? Shes like some Amish girl or something." Lauren's nasal voice echoed as she made fun of the girl. I could feel the annoyance building as I focused on methodically pulling my sweater and putting on the T-shirt.

"I know right? Do you think she sits on it sometimes?" The sound of the brunette's giggle bounced off the walls.

" _Someone_ needs a trip to the salon." Lauren snorted. I glanced up from my shoes to look at her in a bit of a glare. She had a similar shade of pale blonde to Catharin but her's seemed more...cosmetically enhanced while Catharin's hair was really natural looking.

"Well I mean then theres the opposite side, Alice with her buzz-cut." The brunette rolled her eyes as Lauren nodded. I was totally just watching them have the conversation now. I was just getting more and more annoyed.

"Jeez, just stick her in in the looney bin already, right?" Lauren began to grin at her companion as I felt my temper erupt.

"Hey. Peroxide head." I stood and brandished the other shoe to point at her. Okay so not the best term to address her with. I just really didn't do well with people bullying others when they'd done nothing to warrant it. Yeah the family was kinda off but everyone's family had a weird secret.

"Can I help you?" She glanced over her shoulder with a brow raised.

"Enough with the bullying. Its bad enough that the weekly bleaching took your personality, don't take her's too." I motioned to the brunette whose mouth dropped open.

"Big talk coming from someone called "Ivalyn"."Lauren scoffed as she used air quotes to make fun of my name. I rolled my eyes and slid on the other shoe, choosing to leave at that exact moment. When I left I looked around to see Bella talking to Emmett and his blonde sister. She looked like she was blushing pretty hard, I almost thought about waiting over here when Emmett's head turned and he waved to me. Damn it.

"You must be Ivy." The blonde greeted me with a pinched smile as she looked me up and down.

"Probably." I shrugged with a haphazard grin.

"Shes my one and only Ivy, Rose." Emmett's baritone laugh echoed, silencing most of the gym for a second as he threw his arm around me again in a mostly friendly matter. I was more focused on how close she and Bella were standing, and how hard Bella was blushing.

She wouldn't meet my eyes and the blonde focused back on her, asking her something with a little smile. I knew Bella sometimes had wandering eyes in terms of romantic possibilities but she'd never actually had a girlfriend perse. I think the last boyfriend she had was in 8th grade.

"Oh hey. Wheres your shadow?" Emmett's attention was distracted from me as he looked over my head with a smirk. I looked back to see Catharin from the locker room.

"He'll probably pop up sometime. He's got a civil war test." She smirked back as Emmett started snickering.

"That should be cheating, Cat." I looked back as Emmett shook his head, feeling like I was missing the joke here.

"Is he really that good at it?" I asked curiously as they both started snickering now.

"Hes so good at it, its like he lived it or something." Did he study 24-7 and this is why it was so funny? Was he a total fuck up at it? WHAT WAS THE JOKE?

"I'd say I'm pretty damn skilled at the American civil war's history. I'm a little biased though." An accented voice rang next to me, I paused a second. The immediate reaction was "RUN", but then he seemed to relax as Catharin wrapped an arm around his elbow.

"Anyways. I've come to get you from PE, Cat." Jasper's voice got a little lower as he glanced around at Bella and I. Bells was still having a running conversation with the other blonde, Rosalie. She was smiling shyly. It was almost cute.

"Aw but we were going to play dodge ball, Jazz." She sighed with some disappointment which twisted Jasper's solemn face into a frown.

"Fine. After that, we've gotta go." He spoke with finality as she grinned and hugged his arm a little. I admit I did watch them with some morbid fascination. They were most definitely a couple but it felt like they were married more than just dating in high school. Like they'd been married for so long that they were completely in tune, she'd step to the side and he'd adjust to her. Maybe it was just because they'd grown up together in the same adopted family.

I was just trying to get past the weirdness that was a family dating each other. Maybe that was their weird family secret, a cult that meant you'd have to date your sister or your brother. I kinda snorted at the idea and felt Emmett's hands squeeze my shoulder gently, I looked up to see he was watching my facial expressions with curiosity.

"What?" I raised a brow as the curiosity broke into a small smile on his face.

"Nothin'. Just wanted to ask if you'd like to have lunch with us tomorrow." I could hear the gym teacher's whistle go off as he shook his head and released my shoulders. Honestly, despite his arm being cold as hell, I almost missed it around my shoulders. I shrugged as I watched him stuff his hands into his pockets, looking a little nervous as he switched feet to stand on.

"Yeah, sure." I smiled a little as he began to beam. I walked with Bella and Catharin to the middle of the room to be assigned to an area.

Catharin was a _serious_ dodge-ball player. I'd see her run place to place throwing the balls a little harder than I thought she could without hurting someone. Every once in a while I'd see her glance back at the bleachers and roll her eyes, almost nodding. After the fourth time, I looked back to see Jasper standing there, watching her move with a stoic face. Emmett was grinning at me while Rosalie had apparently already left the gym.

It was kinda unnerving to have them watching us play. I knew Jasper was only looking at Catharin but I swear I could feel Emmett's eyes in my back. Anytime I caught a ball, I could him yell my name unnecessarily loud in a cheer and try to stop the blush popping up. Bella got kicked out of the game in the first five minutes by smacking someone in the face with a ball. She ended up sitting next to Emmett, cheering for me, while the boy went to the nurse's office.

When PE ended, Catharin darted into the changing room and disappeared in a flash. In fact all of the Cullen's did. Bella said she hadn't seen the guy from Biology class at all since yesterday morning. I felt like it was kinda weird for an entire family to disappear from school all together but there's a lot of stuff in today's world. Maybe it was a family emergency. I didn't put as much thought to it as I probably should have when Bella and I left the gym and went about the rest of the school day.


	4. Chapter 4

"Ivy, have you seen Rose anywhere, at all?" Bella asked as I pulled a few books out of my locker and slammed the door shut. I was a little on the worried and on the annoyed side.

"Rose who?" I raised a brow as I pulled the bag over my shoulder and walked with her to the truck.

"Rosalie. Emmett's sister." Bella sighed. She was frowning. Emmett hadn't been at school since Tuesday. I looked for him at lunch and found he wasn't there Wednesday. Why bother asking me to sit with him if he wasn't going to even show? Then Thursday I looked for him in Math to yell at him, and bam he wasn't there either. WHAT THE HELL?

"No. I haven't seen your girlfriend. In fact, none of the weirdo's have been here all week, Bells." I grounded out as we left the school building and started walking across the parking lot.

"Ivalyn." She scolded.

"What?" I rolled my eyes at her, she was blushing which confirmed my theory of her having a crush on the blonde.

"They're not weirdos, or a cult, or terrorists. Okay? Enough." She held a hand flat as she shushed me with narrowed eyes.

"Whatever." I opened my mouth then closed it as we stood near the truck now and instead crossed my arms over my chest. I _may_ have called the family a flurry of names after being stood up by the steroid boy with a superman curl.

"Hey! Its the Swan sisters! What are you two ladies up on this fine Friday?" Mike newton sounded like an enthusiastic announcer as he threw an arm around my tense shoulders.

"Going home?" I raised a brow at him as Jessica and Angela came up behind him. I'd learned her name a while after Angie's...Probably because she annoyed me at times. Always just a little _too_ perky.

"Well a little bird told me that your birthday is this Saturday, we were thinking of going out to Port Angeles for it. Whatcha think about that?" He pulled me a little closer by the shoulders as I glared across at Bella. She did this. I knew it was her when the glare melted into an expression of victory for the second time this week.

"Somehow I feel like I don't have much of a choice here." I didn't mind little parties but going out with a group of teenagers to another city just reeked of a bad idea. Especially with one as handsy as Mike.

"Not really." Angela smiled softly as she shook her head.

"It'll be great. I know a senior that can get us some booze and everything." Jessica looked excited as she came around and took my elbow like we were best friends. She eyed Mike's arm with just a tad of annoyance as she spoke.

"Wait theres actually a senior that's _21_?" I asked incredulously.

"Yeah. He kinda skipped a bunch of classes...then failed the others." She shrugged. Well..I might have almost gotten sent to juvy when I was a sophomore for defacing public property but at least I wasn't a 21 year old senior. Plus it was just a bit of tagging, I mean I was just standing there when it happened, may have egged my friend on though.

"I don't even have a car guys." I sighed as I looked across as Bella. Honestly at this point I was just looking for excuses to spend the weekend moping and not seeing people. Maybe play the ukulele some more. I hadn't had a chance to play it since last weekend.

"Oh don't worry, I'm the volunteer DD. " She waved her hand to dismiss my excuse. I raised both brows at that. It wasn't odd for her to skip the booze, but it was odd for her to encourage the whole law-breaking thing.

"Well yeah, you're the only one with a damn car between us." I sighed.

"See? It's all planned, Ives." Mike's grin just deepened. _Ives?_ Did he just turn my name into a cooking spice?

"Fine. Why not?" I felt a little sullen as I nodded. I was still pissed about Emmett's disappearance.

"Great! We'll see you guys there." He slapped me on the back as Jessica let out a squeal. Good god. What had I gotten into now? They left in flurry, migrating back to their vehicles as we hopped into Bella's.

"At some point, I'm going to get a stupid car." I huffed as I sat back into the seat.

"Good luck with earning the money for it." She snickered.

"You only got this one because Charlie can't drive us and you're the responsible one." I glowered as she started snickering some more and began to drive us back.

* * *

"Alright. Love you too. Bye, mom." I smiled at the phone as I hit the end call button and continued to work on a wing for one of my eyes. She was getting ready to go to one of Phil's games when I'd called an hour ago and just stuck her on loudspeaker.

I wanted to complain to someone and it felt weird to complain to Charlie or Bella, they were so alike sometimes. Quiet and awkward with sensitive subjects. Charlie didn't ask what was up yesterday or Friday which led me to only bang things around more. That was pretty much how I dealt with anger unless the object of my anger was right there to get it all out in one go...which he was not. Little bastard.

"Do we _really_ have to go?" I groaned as Bella walked into the bathroom. I was looking at her through the mirror and groaned again when she nodded.

"I thought you'd want to go. You've not done anything even close to rebellious since we got here." I knew she was teasing but the tone kinda bothered me as I pursed my lips.

"Well I'm surprised you're encouraging this." I spouted out and turned around from the mirror, putting down the liquid eyeliner I'd been using.

"Yeah. Its kinda weird for me, I know. I just wanted you to get out of the dumps already." She shrugged.

"Mkay." I said sarcastically as I looked her up and down. She was wearing a pair of jeans with a black and white cable knit sweater. The outfit was a bit plain for my tastes but it fit her well. I was wearing a grey dress that went down to my knees and kitten heels. I didn't really feel like dressing up tonight.

"IVY!" I heard the door bell ring and sighed when Charlie yelled up the stairs. They were here, it was too late to turn back.

"WE'RE COMING." I yelled back down the stairs. I turned back to the mirror and continued the eyeliner as Bella went down for them. She came back into the bathroom a second later as I began to frown and turned around to ask her.

"Wheres the others?" I raised a brow as she shrugged.

"He said there wasn't anyone there, just this." She was turning over a wrapped package in her hands. It was probably the size of her hand.

"It's addressed to you." She shrugged again as she handed it to me. I looked at the little square, wrapped in older newspapers. Some had dates from the 60s on them but the duct-tape covered up the rest.

"It looks sketchy as hell, Bells. If I open this and a fake bug jumps at me, I'm coming for you." I warned, holding up a finger to her.

"It wasn't me!" She raised both of her arms in surrender as she exclaimed. I almost growled at the suspense as I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. I hated when I wasn't sure of things or they were undetermined. I enjoyed having some idea of what it was...like if it'd kill me. Alright. Here we go.

I used my finger nail to try and cut through the duct-tape. It didn't quite work so I went into my room and grabbed a pen, beginning to stab it into the tape. Oh god, what if there was something alive in there? I stared at the package and then shook my head. No way. It'd have to be flat as paper. So I continued to stab through it until I could rip the rest of it.

The lid finally came off as I felt Bella look over my shoulder down at the box's contents. There was a folded piece of plain paper that read out _"Happy 17th. Sorry I can't be there.",_ it was handwritten in boxy letters. Under the paper was a triangular shaped car key. I picked it up and flipped it over, the _Toyota_ company logo was on the back.

"Did mom order you a car?" Bella asked sounding surprised.

"She didn't say anything about it over the phone." I said, confused. I didn't recognize the handwriting honestly. It did look a little like mom's, boxy and sloppy but she would have just told me over the phone if she had. She could never keep a surprise like this under wraps. The doorbell rang again and a few seconds later I could hear the sound of teenagers awkwardly talking to Charlie.

"GIRLS, YOUR FRIENDS ARE HERE!" Charlie's voice yelled up the stairs again as I bit my lip and put it down, slapping the lid over the top of it again.

"Lets just go. It was probably delivered by accident." I said quickly as I turned and walked back to the bathroom to check my make up. It was mostly done and it'd have to do. I was a little chilled and a little confused. A car was a big deal if someone had just given me that. I mean you don't go around giving out free cars for no reason other than a birthday. I wasn't a celebrity and I wasn't all that friendly to anyone really.

"Yeah sure. They _accidentally_ sent a box that was just _accidentally_ about someone turning 17." Bella scoffed as we went down the stairs. I gave her a dirty look to keep quiet about it as we came down into the hallway and greeted everyone.

* * *

Okay so maybe drinking in Port Angeles wasn't the best idea. I'd been groped twice by Mike and got yelled at by Jessica. It was almost typical for a group of teenagers to drink and melt into a puddle of pent-up emotions and Bells was having a hard time of corralling us all. Angie was probably the best drunk I'd met so far. She was happy-go-lucky.

"Stupid sign. How can I read you if you're not letting me?" I was currently a bit lost, staring at a street sign that looked almost a little blurry to me as I glared at it. I don't think I was all that steady because I felt the world begin to tilt as I leaned into a wall.

"Whoa there." The wall was talking. It had deep voice but it was kinda nice to feel the vibrations run down my arm. OH.

"I can FENCE!" I sprang away as quickly as a drunk can and sort of waved my arms around in some kind of defense.

"I don't doubt it." The wall snorted as I slowly stopped waving my arms around and looked up.

"You're really tall." I commented warily as I took in the wide shoulders and height of what appeared to a dude. I couldn't really see his face, the street light behind him was glaring into my retinas. It was almost a little blinding.

"You're really short." He sounded amused as he responding. I swung an arm and went to flip him off. Apparently I was _really_ wasted considering that almost threw off my balance as I felt my thighs go slack.

"Woah, woah. God you've got your sister's grace." He sighed as I felt arms wrap around me, pulling me back to his chest.

"HEY! No touching." I tensed as he did. He started to rub my back as I was smushed against his chest. It was honestly a halfassed scolding as I sort of just let my body go limp into his arms. All the bag idea bells were ringing but I felt like if he was going to hurt me, he had a million chances already. I was drunk and alone. Bad, Ivy.

"Sorry, babe. Look, I'm just going to send you in the right direction alright? No funny business here. I promise." He sounded honest but I'd been wrong before.

"How do you know whats the right direction?" I mumbled into his chest. I could feel it shake as he laughed.

"Humans are great when you're drunk. I'm going to miss this." He sounded quiet but I was distracted by the smell of him and something cold on my head.

"Come on. Bella's just around the corner." He tried to move me as I decided I didn't want to go.

"No. Shes going to be mad." I pouted as I tried to weigh myself down by letting my body become dead weight. I could hear him sigh then mumble something. Abruptly my feet were up in the air as I stared up at the night sky. I glanced over at his head in a frown as I realised he'd just picked me up. I let my head go slack as it lead over his arm.

"Night skies are pretty." I spoke to the air.

"They can be sometimes." He said softly. I nodded at that though I was surprised he'd responded.

"Here we go. Shes just around the corner." I felt my body being slowly lowered to the ground as I was surrounded in the dark.

"Okay." I nodded. We were in some kind of alleyway I think. I felt my feet touch the cement and started to walk towards the corner coming out to Bella yelling my name.

"I'm right here. Gooood." I rolled my eyes, waving haphazardly and steadying myself on the brick wall near us.

"IVALYN. Get. In. The. Car." She rushed up to me, grounding out each word as I waved her off and stumbled towards the passenger seat. I opened the door, Mike grinned back at me.

"Hey." I greeted as I shrugged and pulled myself up onto his lap. I could feel something hard but god did I try to ignore it. The idea had me in mental hives.

* * *

"Ivalyn!" Charlies voice thundered into my room. I peeked open one eye at his face, he looked confused but also a little bit angry. My head was killing me, this was going to be a two day hang over. I could feel it happening as I pulled the blankets down a tad away from my face.

"Hi." I greeted warily. My throat felt scratchy and dry as my cracked a bit.

"Tell your mother, that next time shes getting you a damn car for your birthday to at least check with me first." He declared with some exasperation. I raised my brows, the confusion setting in my blurry mind.

"Mom's not getting me a car, what are you _talking_ about?" I sighed as I sat up slowly, massaging my head.

"Whats going on?" Bella's sleepy voice came from behind him. I looked up from my hands to her as I shrugged, still bleary eyed.

"Reneé got her a car and now I have to try and sell the one I got for her, back." Charlie threw up his hands and stomped off as Bella walked into my room and opened the curtains. It was a little odd to see him so mad at something like mom getting me a birthday present.

"What time did we get back?" I laid back down and pulled the blankets over my head.

"Probably close to 5. I had to drop everyone off before we got here." She said in a low voice as she opened my window.

"Okay, Ivy. What the hell? Whose having a brand new Toyota being dropped off here at 10 in the morning on a Sunday?" She asked with confusion evident. I shrugged under the covers, not really processing what she was saying. Last night was a bit of a blur after we left the pier in Port Angeles.

"Oh my god, Bella. I DON'T KNOW." I yelled as she yanked the covers down, letting the sunlight burn my retinas.

"LOOK OUT THE WINDOW." She yelled back, pointing at the window. I wrapped the covers around my body as I shuffled over the window and peered outside. I could feel my eyes squint as I tried to keep out the sunlight. A black two door car glinted back at me in the drive way, with a green bow sticking out of the top.

"Whose car is that?" I asked tiredly as I closed the window and pulled the curtains shut again. Bella smacked her forehead with an audible pop as she groaned.

"Just go back to bed. I'll talk about it when you wake up." She motioned to the bed as I gave her a thumbs up. I shuffled back to the bed and collapsed on it, pulling the blankets back over my head.

I opened my eyes again and found a glass of water next to me with some Tylenol. I popped those as I slide out of bed slowly. I think it was night time, honestly. I could smell food cooking downstairs as I slowly walked down them. There were voices but Charlie's sounding annoyed.

"Its about time you got up." Bella's voice came through the door way into the hallway where I was standing.

"Hey." I greeted her and Charlie as I grabbed a coffee cup and dumped out the old coffee to fill it with water.

"Ivalyn, sit down. We need to talk." Charlie said sounding tired. I paused a second before shutting off the water and sitting down at the table.

"I called Reneé. She doesn't know where the car came from either." He spoke with an air of calm as I froze up trying to think of what he was talking about. It dawned on me as I slowly nodded.

"So really what I wanted to ask you is...um. Well. How did you get the car, Iva?" He lost the air of calm, going back to the Charlie I knew better.

"Look, Charlie. I don't know. Bella was there when the key came in the little box thingy. You can ask her, I have literally no idea." I put my hands up with my elbows resting on the table. He put his head in one of his hands as he sighed.

"Okay, can I see the box the keys came in?" He asked as I nodded, getting up. I went up the stairs and returned with it a second later, handing it to him. He looked it over, frowning.

"Well. That didn't help a whole lot outside of they obviously know you." He said as I shook my head. It didn't help me either. He sat the box down in the middle of the table as Bella started moving around the kitchen more. It sounded like dinner was almost ready.

"Alright. Heres what we're going to do. I'll try checking around some. See if anyone knows anything about a Toyota Yaris 2005 model being sold or stolen from anywhere. You keep driving to school with Bella and we'll see if anything turns up." He determined, putting his hands under his chin. I nodded, that sounded fine to me though now I kind of wanted to test drive it. It was small and adorable.

"Dinner's done." Bella called out after a second of silence. I stood up, grabbing the plates and silver ware, setting the table as Charlie set the box off to the side. I poked at the meatloaf as the table went silent and the sounds of forks hitting plates became evident.


	5. Chapter 5

I closed my locker slowly. I was still moving pretty slow and felt like death warmed over in a microwave as I went down the hall to go to french class. I went inside and sat down next to Jasper without a word. He glanced at me, nodding his head to signal he'd seen me but didn't speak either. I was a little grateful for it honestly. However during lunch it was like all hell broke loose. Kids were talking loudly, there was clanging and people pushing past me to get ahead into the cafeteria.

"Hey." I stood in the lunch line, staring blankly as a piece of grilled chicken and mac and cheese when I heard Emmett talking next to me.

"Look whose back in school." I raised my brows as I looked away from him and paid the cashier. I was totally awake now. Spite fueled me.

"It was a personal thing. Had to." He sighed as I started speed walking towards our regular lunch table, totally intent on ignoring him.

"Yeah. Thats great." I said sarcastically.

"Hey. C'mon, Ivy. I'm sorry I bailed on you, I swear it wasn't my plan." He caught my forearm, stopping me. I looked over my shoulder at him with narrowed eyes, searching for a lie.

"Fine. I believe that you're sorry." I nodded and pulled my arm out of his loose grasp.

"So you'll eat with me?" He sounded hopeful as I let out a snort.

"Not a chance in hell." I said as I kept walking. I sat down next to Mike who stopped his conversation almost immediately as he turned to me.

"Someone looks like they had a fun birthday." He winked as he elbowed my side. Everyone chorused a cheer of sorts as I sighed.

"I am so tired right now." I groaned.

"It was fun though." I felt him throw an arm over my shoulders as he scooted closer.

"Yeah, the one part I can _remember_." I grounded out. His thigh was rubbing against mine which sort of grossed me out so I angled away from him.

"Well we're going to have a fun day tomorrow. Field trip, Ives!" He sounded just as enthusiastic as I froze and looked across the table at Bella. I never even thought to ask Charlie to sign the permission slip.

"Oh, I already got our permission slips in." She nodded, cancelling out my worries.

"Ives, so. I was hop-" Mike started whispering of sorts in my ear as the table started to talk about the field trip. It was originally just for the biology students but then all the science classes went. I was just glad it meant I'd get out of Chem. I hated the class and the little blonde guy I was sat next to didn't really talk unless he had too. It was one of the boring classes.

"Mind if I sit here?" I looked over my shoulder and Mike's arm to see Emmett standing there with tray of food. I just sort of stared at him for a second.

"Oh sure! Pull up a seat." Lauren was the first to respond as the table went silent. I glared at him as he jacked a seat from the table nearby and sat down with a loud bang in between Mike and I. What was he playing at here?

"Chicken, huh? Is that a favorite of yours?" He asked, grinning.

"Its just...kinda what I grabbed." I looked down at my plate and shrugged awkwardly, totally aware the entire table was watching this happen right now. I looked over at his plate of...totally random food. He had literally a single green bean and a cup of rice with what looked like cucumber pieces on top. How did he stay this big and not eat that much?

"So, Emmett. Are you going to prom?" Lauren started a conversation and for once I was kinda grateful she was talking. It took the entire table's attention away from me.

"Maybe. Haven't gotten around to asking my date yet. Dunno if she even wants to go." He replied, pushing the cucumbers around then leaning back and putting the fork down. I was almost annoyed when he talked about his date. He was coming off as a serious player right now and I think it gave Lauren hope.

"Oh I see. Well I'm sure whoever she is, she'll totally say yes." Lauren let out a giggle as Jessica nodded. The table was still awkwardly silent, watching the interaction between the two.

"I dunno. Shes pretty pissed off with me right now." He shrugged, glancing at me for one second too long. It literally just took that one second to send all the blood rushing up to my ears and to get annoyed for a totally different reason now. I felt like a middle schooler with her first crush and it almost bugged me he could do that. I felt like I was experienced with guys if nothing else. They all had the same idea on their minds, Mike was a prime example of that.

"That sucks. Anyways, Ives-" Mike started again.

"Ives? You tried to nickname her after a onion, seriously man?" Emmett snorted, looking over at him. Lauren and Jessica started to laugh as well as I raised my brows.

"Well what can you think of then, big guy?" I dared him, crossing my arms and leaning back against the chair. It felt cold as hell but that wasn't exactly unusual considering the school had their AC on 24-7 and it was forever rainy outside.

"Probably Ivie, Ivy, Lyn, Lina." He smirked as I glowered. I looked over my shoulder when I felt something brush against me and looked back to see his pale arm stretched across the back of the chair. Jesus his arm was _freezing_.

"Lina _barely_ matches." I smirked back as he rolled his eyes.

"Kay. I'll stick to Ivie, Ivy, or Lyn." He stated leaning forwards a bit. It sounded like this had almost become a competition.

"Well that's just _great._ What should I call you? Dick? Steroid Man?" I narrowed my eyes as we started to just glare at each other.

"How about Emmett? I might take a request for babe, baby, or even baby-cakes, if you ask really nicely." He spouted back, running a finger against my back. I scoffed at that, trying not to visibly react to his touch. Inside though, I almost felt like being a giggly school girl.

"Not till I get real answers, _Emmett_." I hissed from the embarrassment of that, leaving us to delve into a glare off that turned one-sided.

"Real answer is I love it when you say my name like that." He winked cheekily. I just glared harder until someone coughed.

"You could call me, Cat." I looked up to see Catharin looking like she was holding back a laugh as she spoke. Jasper was next to her but stood a little farther back, both of his hands in his pockets.

"You don't look like a Cat." I responded, clearing my throat and leaning away from Emmett. I could feel his thigh against mine but didn't move it. His didn't feel quite as creepy as Mike's for some reason...probably because I didn't get drunk with Emmett and have him feel up my ass. Hard to go back to a friend thing after that.

"Almost everyone in the family calls me that." She shrugged. I looked her up and down and it hit me just how thin she was. It was almost scary. I couldn't see the veins or her balding or anything but she was boney looking.

"Thats because you're sneaky as hell and no one can fire back when you've got the Major standing over there." Emmett motioned to Jasper as I assumed that was the nickname for him. It was odd but the entire family was odd.

"Only a _little_. You're just a really big, easy target." She shrugged, taking a few steps back to wrap an arm around Jasper's elbow.

"Anyways, I'll see you in English, Ivy." She smiled and waved at me as Jasper began to speed walk them out of the cafeteria.

The rest of lunch was a series of Lauren trying to start conversations with Emmett only to have him involve me. I grunted almost every time, ending the conversation to attack the chicken with a plastic knife out of annoyance.

* * *

"How was lunch?" Catharin asked, smiling at me as I sat down.

"Tense." I shrugged. She nodded, frowning now. I looked at the shoulder bones peeking through her off the shoulder crop top. How hadn't I noticed this before? I think it was the fact her hair was up today. She'd done a bun of sorts and it left her shoulders and back exposed. She seemed to have some kind of scarring on her neck but I could just barely see it.

"Kinda figured. Sorry for interrupting, Jasper told me not to but...I was just trying to break up an argument in the middle of a crowded cafeteria." She sighed as my mouth formed an O. I didn't really get why she'd popped in and now it all made sense.

"Its all good." I smiled at her.

"Um...so I wanted to ask you something." I pursed my lips trying to think of a delicate way to go about this.

"Oh, go for it!" She grinned. I took in her facial expression with some worry. Her features were cut but they looked soft at the same time. Her cheeks were full looking.

"Are you...are you eating okay?" I bit my lip as I watched her brows furrow for a second.

"Am I eating okay?" She tilted her head as she repeated what I asked.

"Yeah. I mean if its sensitive or silly, you don't have to tell me." I nodded, waiting for her answer. If she was anorexic or anything I didn't expect her to tell me but it'd make sense of why she stuck to Jasper's side like glue and why I never saw her eating or drinking anything. It'd also explain why she was pale and so...thin.

"I'm eating like a normal person would be eating." She said carefully, watching my expression. I gave her a tight lipped smile and nodded. Didn't expect her to tell me anyways, honestly.

"Alright, just wanted to check. I mean I'm around if you ever want to talk." I put my hand over her cold one in some act of comfort. I don't know why I really tried but I think it was along the lines of just wanting to be there for someone who could be suffering.

"Um. Okay. Thanks." She let out a little laugh as she nodded, grinning.

* * *

"What?" I went to meet Bella at the car but I was stopped half way by the tank known as Emmett Cullen. Every time I tried to go around him, he'd just step to the side.

"I wanted to ask you something, you're the one trying to dodge me." He shrugged, taking another step to the side as I did.

"Okay, fine. Ask." I almost stomped my foot as I said it but stopped myself just shy, letting my foot dangle.

"I want to make it up to you. The whole disappearing act, I mean." He put his hands behind his back as he started to rock on his heels. He looked nervous as I peered up at him.

"And what exactly were you thinking of?" I crossed my arms over my chest as I waited.

"Probably head over to a movie, walk around. Stuff like that." He shrugged jerkily, looking around.

His eyes lingered in one specific direction so I looked over there with some curiosity. It was the other two Cullens I hadn't met, the little black haired one and the redhead. They were under an umbrella and while the girl was smiling, the guy looked almost angry. Jasper and Catharin were walking up to them. Catharin was almost running ahead, pulling him along behind her. She was talking to the black haired girl, I only knew because I could see their mouths moving and them looking at each other.

"And when?" I asked, looking back at him after a second. He began to look a little hopeful as I looked at him.

"Maybe this weekend. Saturday around 5?" He put his hands in his pockets as he answered.

"Well." I pursed my lips as I thought.

"Well? What do you think, Lyn?" He smirked as he leaned down a bit, the nerves were gone now apparently. He just looked confident. I kinda wanted to have him wait a tad before I answered.

"Well, I think you'll get an answer tomorrow." I answered with a smirk as I leaned closer to him. His cheek was just in range to be kissed and I reeeeaaallly wanted to throw him off just a tad.

"If you're at school that is." I finished and pecked his cheek quickly. After that I hightailed it out of there, he seemed to be frozen to the spot, grinning like a nut-job when I got in the car. Bella got in a second later as I watched him do a full out run across the parking lot and pick up Catharin. Spinning her in a circle then setting her down.

"Whats with him?" She asked looking at me then the Cullens again. I just shrugged in response, he went from hardcore sexy to a happy five year-old and back again in a flash.

"Hey, when we get home. I want to ask you something." Bella swallowed heavily as she slid on her seat belt and ignited the ignition. I looked at her, her shoulders were locked together and her face was white. There was something off.

"Uh, okay." I pursed my lips with a bit of worry as she stared forwards.


	6. Chapter 6

"Bells?" I asked with a bit of worry as she pulled me into the house and into the bathroom. She didn't respond as she turn on the shower, the radio, the sink and closed the door then closed the curtains. I was starting to get a just a little bit panicked when she hunkered down below the sink and motioned for me to sit there with her.

I sat down slowly, pulling my knees close to my chest. She was sort of scaring me right now, Bella was always the more rational on out of the two of us. I was supposed to be the confused, flighty one. Not her.

"Look, I already know how crazy this is going to sound, okay? Trust me. I _know._ " She stood up as she spoke in a whisper. I was having trouble hearing her so I stood as well. She started to pace back and forth across the bathroom.

"Uh." I started as she held up a hand to signal she wasn't done. I just closed my mouth and nodded instead of talking. Definitely seemed crazy.

"Theres something...something not _human_ about the Cullens." She shook her head as she let out angry noises. I just folded my hands in my lap as I leaned on the sink. It seemed she'd finally had a breakdown. The pressure of taking care of everyone around her had knocked her clean off her rocker.

"And um. May I know what brought this on?" I questioned carefully.

"Rose. I mean Rosalie. She keeps...warning me off. Like every time we even start to get close she gets really angry and storms off. Then she said I should as the Quileute about a treaty, so I asked Jacob what the hell was going on and _he_ said that it was big tribe thing and that I had to talk to Billy. So I talked to Billy and he told me about a legend. Kinda?" She took in a deeeeep breath after a few short ragged ones between her rants.

"And out of curiosity because I _am_ believing everything you're saying right now, when did you go and do all of this?" I nodded slowly, trying to understand what had happened to my older sister.

"When you were sleeping off the giant hangover. Anyways, so then I asked Rose what that all meant and she said I'd figure it out. That I needed to stay away from her for a while. I was dangerous to her family and s-so were you. But you were just _in_ danger." Her lip began to quiver as she recounted everything. She stopped pacing to come closer to me. I paused for a second when she wrapped her arms around me and hesitantly put a hand on her back. She was mumbling things about the blonde into my shoulder as I rubbed her back.

"Hey. Look. I don't know anything about a legend or a treaty or whatever else but I _do_ know that she likes you. Okay? You've only been around her for two weeks. Maybe she just wants to take it a little slower, huh?" I determined, still rubbing her back. She was still mumbling as I sighed.

"How about, I ask Em whats going on. That better?" I pursed my lips trying to come up to a good middle ground between a legend and a potential break up. She pulled away from me, sniffling.

"Okay but also ask him about a treaty in 1937. Remember that date. 19. 37." She wiped her eyes as she looked intently at me.

"Ookay. Anything _else_?" I furrowed my brow as I sighed and nodded.

"Cold ones. Ask about the cold ones. While you do that, I...I'm going to look for a book in Port Angeles." She nodded to herself as she turned and left the bathroom, going to her room I assumed.

"What book?" I yelled but got no reply. Instead, I just started after her in a sigh and turned off the sink and shower. I waited downstairs for Charlie to come home to try and warn him about Bella's...delicate state before she blew up at him or anything.

It took him longer than I thought it would to come home so after a while I just propped my feet up and waited. I'd never seen Bells in that sort of state. Even when she was stressed, she kept her cool. She didn't yell, she didn't cry. She was calm and collected.

"Its about time you got home, young lady. I almost had half the town out looking for you." I cracked a joke as he came through the door, taking off his belt and coat.

"What do you want, Ivy?" He asked sounding tired, sitting down at the table. I took my sock covered feet off of it and leaned a little bit closer to him.

"I just wanted to warn you...um. Bella's a little. Stressed out right now. I think the move and school and everything is finally getting to her." I pursed my lips and nodded. He stared at me for a second as it seemed to process.

"So.." He paused looking a bit confused.

"So, cut her some slack." I whispered quickly as I heard the first stair creak. It sounded like she was about to come down stairs so I leaned back again and waited for her.

"Hey Bells. How do you feel about pizza for dinner?" He asked quickly, standing and moving to pull a chair out for her.

"Um. I guess so, if you guys want that." She sat down slowly, looking a little suspicious at us both.

"Totally. I've been in the mood for pizza all day today." I claimed, holding up both thumbs in agreement with the plan.

"Alright then, I-" She went to stand up when Charlie rushed the phone.

"I'll call!" He yelled from the hallway. I raised a brow and shrugged when Bella looked back with confusion at me. He was just being Charlie as far as I was concerned.

* * *

I followed behind Bella as we came to the buses. Bella was at first talkative as we walked but then when Rosalie and her family walked out of another door, she quickly went quiet. I pretty much just leaned around to glare at her over Bella's shoulder as I wasn't tall enough to do by just standing there. It didn't occur to me that Emmett wasn't with his family until I felt a large cold hand ghost over my shoulder and jumped.

"Its just me!" He announced as I spun around to glower at whoever decided to touch me.

"I know. I just wanted to see you with both of your hands up." I raised a brow with a smirk popping up as he held both hands up in surrender. He rolled his eyes as he fell into step with me.

"Wasn't sure that was the case considering how hard you were trying to glare a hole into Rose's back." He snorted. Said girl glanced back at us when he blurted that out, it was almost like she'd heard us which threw me off.

"Shush." I hissed, looking between Bella and the blonde that was looking back at us. Bella seemed to be unaware still as she continued walking forwards, not saying anything still.

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask you about the whole date night thing again." Emmett just jumped subjects instead of quieting which was probably something I should have expected.

"Ask away." I quipped as we stopped in a line outside the buses.

"Okay fine, let me make it up to you. Saturday at 5." I turned to him right as he picked up my left hand and kissed it gently. I felt the blood rush up to my ears as I swallowed and nodded. He smirked at me in return. We were assigned to a bus different from the rest of the Cullens and Hales which I didn't question but I did question when Emmett sat down next to me like it was totally normal and wrapped an around the back of the chair.

"Em, um. I'm sorry but Bella was going to sit there." I motioned to his seat on the outside as he shrugged. Bella seemed to almost sigh as she sat catty-cornered from us.

"Rose wants to sit next to her." He whispered in my ear. I raised a brow and opened my mouth to say something about her being assigned a different bus when the blonde herself popped onto the bus and sat down quickly. I guess rules didn't really apply to the Cullens.

* * *

The field trip was a little boring, walking through greenhouses after greenhouses. Rosalie kept close to Bella, talking to her every few minutes. I watched with some relief as her shoulders began to unlock and she even laughed. It was almost a nice trip up until Bella tripped over a stray vine over the floor and scraped up her knee a little bit.

"Ah shit. Cat!" Emmett reacted first, yelling for his sister for whatever reason. Rosalie just sort of turned away from Bella on the floor, holding a hand over her mouth and nose. I went to Bella to help her up, the cut didn't look too bad honestly, but then Catharin appeared. I jumped a little as she carefully pulled the jeans a little bit and just stuck her hand over Bella's knee?

"Uh." I started, glancing around to see if anyone else thought this was weird. Jasper was no where to be found, Emmett was standing off to the side with his arms crossed over his chest chatting with Rosalie who was shaking her head but still had a hand over the lower half of her face. There weren't any other students or teachers which threw me but the fact that everyone was just sort of standing around acting like nothing out of the norm was happening confused me too.

"...come on now. All better." I looked back right as Catharin quickly stuck a band-aid over the knee and stuck out a hand. Bella took it, getting up shakily.

"You five, you're holding up the buses. Come on!" A female teacher I hadn't met yelled into the green house. I rose from my crouched position, frowning and followed after Catharin and Bella who were walking with their elbows looped together.

"You look a little pale, Ivy." Emmett's deep voice commented next to me.

"That didn't seem...I don't know a little weird?" I glanced over at him with a raised brow.

"What do you mean?" His expression looked a bit resigned as he furrowed his brows at me.

"Bella fell and you yelled for your sister..."I pursed my lips, frowning deeper at him. He shrugged robotically.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He looked almost a bit frustrated as he looked away from me to the floor.

"Seriously?" I was sarcastic. He frowned as he looked up from the wet cement back to me, still not saying anything.

"Now you're just lying to me." I scoffed and began speed walking to get away from him. If he'd just said he didn't want to talk about it, that was fine. But he didn't. Instead he was hiding something. If he had a fear of blood or something, that was fine but he why the fuck can't he just _say_ it?

"It's full. Find another one." I stopped when I heard Rosalie speak to Bella. I felt the anger bubble up at the family as I pulled Bella away from them roughly towards another bus.

I collapsed into the seat next to Bella with a sigh. It'd been looking up today, up until Bella fell. Then it was like everything just fell apart and there was something that no one was telling me or Bella for that matter. I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked over at Bella with a raised brow.

"I don't want to see your wounds." She was pointing at her knee which I immediately held a hand up to _not_ see the ooey-gooey blood scab forming. She did this whenever she thought it was fun to gross me out. I was fine with blood but I hated the sight of a healing wound for some reason. The hard scab, the squishy skin, the possible puss was just...gross.

"No, Ivy. Thats the thing. _Look_. Its not there!" She hissed vehemently.

"What are you..." I rolled my eyes as I moved my hand then paused. There was literally nothing there under the band-aid. I ran a finger over the hole in her jeans and knee. It was just clean skin. Nothing red, or cut, or warm.

"Does it hurt?" I raised a brow as I whispered to her.

"No. Its like I never fell." She shook her head quickly.

"But...well did it feel like you cut your knee?" I frowned at the bare skin.

"Yes! I swear to god I had gravel in there when I looked at it." She huffed.

"Gossiping about the dance?" Mike Newton's voice sounded happy when he spoke behind us. I felt my eyes grow as I realised he'd most likely been there the whole time and looked at Bella with a bit of panic.

"Nah, just talking about the hole." Bella answered him, motioning to the hole in her jeans as I just stared wide-eyed forwards. It was an odd feeling, bewilderment. It seemed to happen when the circumstances leading up to an event just didn't add up, whether it was the actual setting or the people involved. In this case neither appeared to add up.


	7. Chapter 7

I was laying in bed the next weekend, thinking about school happening Monday. I'd successfully avoided Emmett all week after the little greenhouse incident...well I think that he just sort of let me avoid him at this point. I figured that if he really wanted too, he could easily pop up. We never had the date and while I was kinda okay, I was also quite a bit disappointed.

It was something that I was looking forward to in the long run but kept having difficulty's actually doing it when it got close to the date. I heard a tick like something hitting glass and sat up. I looked around the room for a possible bug then jumped a tad when I heard another.

I got up at that point, looking around for something that could have bounced off my mirror or the glass layer on top of my dresser. At this point I heard glass break and jumped at that, spinning around from the mirror to look at a pebble on the floor covered by a bit of broken glass.

"Shit. Sorry." A bass voice came through the now broken bottom half of the window.

"Emmett?" I checked incredulously, stepping over the glass to pull the curtains apart. He gave me a small wave from the tree branch stretching out towards my window.

"Did not mean to break the window." He frowned a the crack in the glass.

"Well you kinda did." I huffed.

"I can replace that." He nodded, looking hopeful at me.

"How?" I raised both brows, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Uh...by calling a repair company. Duh." He paused, looking around for some answer then looked back at me when he had it.

"Oh my god. Jus- Nevermind. Its whatever." I glared at him as I pulled it open and leaned out.

"What are you even doing here?" I was practically accusing him as I pointed at his place on the branch. I was a little impressed he could even balance out there.

"I wanted to say sorry. Alice told me to give you a week but I felt like one day short wasn't that big of a deal." He shrugged.

"Probably should have listened to her. 'Sorry' doesn't really cut it after like the 50th time. We both know there's something you're not telling me." I narrowed my eyes, looking at him. He had a deer in the head lights look as he shrugged awkwardly. I leaned a little closer over the edge, thinking about smacking him in the kneecaps or knocking him off the branch.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He replied tonelessly.

"THEN WHY ARE YOU APOLOGIZING?" I bellowed waving my hands around as I leaned just a little too far out of the window and felt my legs lose feeling with the hardwood floor in my bedroom.

"FUC-" It was really at this point that I realised I'd just done what every mother's fear with children and balcony's were, I'd leaned too far over and lost my balance. It was also at this point that everything seemed to speed up as I felt air going through my hair, something hard gripping my waist and nausea. A lot of nausea.

"Wha-" I began as I blinked and I was inside my room again with Emmett holding me but we were on the bed. I felt a heightened version of carsickness and complete confusion at my surroundings. I was totally supposed to be ass up on the grass outside with a broken shoulder or something. I weighed 140 pounds, that shit caught up with me in a free fall, especially from two stories.

"Your dad's coming." He put a hand over my mouth to shush me as he whispered. I furrowed my brow as my ears picked up on feet hitting the floor in the hallway and looked over my shoulder to see him open the door.

"Ivalyn. Some of us are trying to sleep. Okay? Knock off the yelling." Charlie scolded me tiredly. All I could do was look back over my shoulder at him with wide eyes and mutely nod. He sighed as he nodded and closed the door. Heavy footsteps echoed back across the hallway and the closing of his bedroom door. I looked forward again to an empty space where I thought Emmett had been.

Was it a dream? Did I dream all of that crap? I sat up quickly, my eyes scanned and found the open window and glass on the floor. Okay. So. That was _not_ a dream. Or dream me broke a window with a rock from the outside...yeah I wasn't that talented.

"This really wasn't the plan, Lyn. Oh great. Now you're afraid of me." I jumped, moving as far as possible away from the bed when Emmett appeared behind me and started muttering. He frowned as he took in my poor attempt to blend in with the wall.

"I'm not...afraid. Just...taken aback." I corrected as I stared at him.

"Well there you go. Bat's out of the bag." He motioned to the window as I raised a brow.

"Pretty sure it's 'cat', not 'bat'." I corrected.

"Nah, in this case it's bat." He shook his head.

" _How?_ " I debated. Somehow, he'd just saved me from possibly breaking something _and_ gotten me into the bed in as little as a few seconds from what I could tell, and instead of asking him about that, I was trying to correct him on a common phrase.

"Because vampires are known for bats by you guys. So, bats." He defended.

"And _that's_ what you're supposed to be? A vampire?" I scoffed. I wasn't even so sure why I was questioning that given the past events.

"Do you know many guys that can do that?" He accused pointing to the tree and window. I pursed my lips as I went mute again.

"Thought so." He rolled his eyes and leaned back onto my bed.

"Hey! Shoes off." I hissed as he paused his legs moving in mid air, kicking his shoes off. He put his feet back on the bed, now shoe less and crossed his legs as he put his arms behind his head.

"I was expecting this to be softer." He commented after a bit of silence with a disappointed expression.

"Why?" I raised a brow at that. I wasn't sure if he was making conversation or if he was serious about the disappointment in my bed's softness.

"You always have so much trouble getting out of it and Cat said it could be because you enjoyed the soft, warm feeling." He explained innocently. I shrugged then paused.

"Have...have you been _watching_ me in bed?" I glared at him as he seemed to finally realise the mistake made and raised his arms in surrender.

"Not when you're getting undressed or something pervy like _that_." He motioned to the air with the concept in mind as I scoffed.

" _Why_? Who told you that was good idea?" I waved my hands around again, annoyed now.

"No one, I just missed ya." He gave a boyish grin as he shrugged.

"Look. We need to have a serious talk here about...all of this." I sighed as I gave up on blending into the wall and sat down on the bed.

"Go for it." He nodded as he seemed to bite his lip with anxiety. It was something I'd seen Bella do quite a bit. I pursed my lips as I thought about what to ask him and ended up putting my head in my hands as I sighed.

"I don't think I really know where to start." I felt a little lost but I was kinda happy the carsickness wore off.

"How about I explain the basics and you get to come over tomorrow. How about that?" I looked up at his grin and shrugged.

"Alright." I sighed as I turned fully towards him and crossed my legs over each other.

"So. Long ago, when dinosaurs roamed the earth in like the 1600s Carlisle, my dad slash creator was born..." This felt like it was going to be a long ass night when he started so I choose to lay down for the remainder.

"...And then after a super long and exhausting battle, the bear bested me. Then right when I thought I was going to die, Rose showed up and carried me hundreds of miles to Carlisle, who then changed me." He took in a deep breath when I held up hand.

"Yes?" He nodded to me.

"When are we going to get to the rest of your family?" I asked from my position from the bed, curled around a pillow. So far it'd just been about how he was growing up and him assuring me that his 'womanizer days' of his 'wild youth' were over.

"Right about now. So Catharin and Jasper joined the family in the 60s. Their joining story is probably the most interesting and action packed, past mine but anyways. Right. So. We have a treaty with the reservation, they've got the whole wolf shape shifting thing going on so-" He used his hands to demonstrate his ideas I looked up at him.

"There's werewolves?" I raised my brows at him as he gave me a so-so hand signal.

"Kinda. They're not actually werewolves just shapeshifters whose particular form happens to be wolves. Actual werewolves are almost extinct." He explained.

"Oh. Right. Back to your siblings then." I gave an 'Oh', like I totally understood how that all worked.

"Right so yeah, we have the treaty and all and we're not supposed to harm humans or eat them or go over there but! Catharin didn't know that. So one day she was out hunting when they lived in Seattle but came allll the way over to here, and she stumbled onto their territory. So they called us over and were all "Is she yours?" and Carlisle said no but then Jasper came flying out of the trees and attacked the guys." Emmett grinned as though I should be impressed with the story.

"Right. And how old are they?" I slowly nodded.

"Oh I think he's like a year older than her even though he was changed after her. They're like 150 or something close." He shrugged.

"Okeydokes, continue." I motioned to him again.

"Okay so then Carlisle and Esme talked to them and asked if they wanted to join because she was already into animals but he was still drinking humans so he'd have to switch but also because she was like mostly done with her doctor degree _._ " He shrugged. He looked more excited for Jasper coming out of trees and murdering people, it sounded like vampire's entertainment was blood and guts action.

"Alice joined in like the 80s, just wandered onto us with her gift." He continued as I held up a hand again.

"Yes?" He seemed to sigh this time, it was like my 900th question.

"Her 'gift'?" I asked with air quote.

"Oh yeah, so sometimes people change and they have a special ability. Like Carlisle has great self control, Esme has love or something, Edward can read people's thoughts, Alice can see the future, Jasper can manipulate emotions, and Cat can heal humans." He nodded.

"Do you have a gift?" I asked curiously, he began to grin.

"Oh yeah, I do. I have two."

"And they are?" His grin just grew as I asked with raised brows. He waited a second so I sat up and waited for an answer.

"These guns." He held up his arms in a strong guy position and flexed. He continued to grin as I just stared at him.

"That was awful." I cracked a smile finally afterwards, kissing him on the cheek.


	8. Chapter 8

"I always get the nicest feeling when you do that." He mumered as he put a hand over his cheek.

"Really?" I peered at his face and it looked like he was just happily smiling that quickly matured into lidded eyes as I moved a little closer to him. I figured this was a vampire thing...or just an Emmett thing. The jumping of emotions that fast seemed to be unique to him but I hadn't really spoken to his siblings to know if it was just him.

"Are you sure you want to get that close on a bed?" He asked with his voice gravelly now. I looked down at our positions, I _was_ pretty much in his lap and we were on a bed. But...I kind of wanted to test the boundaries. We'd been dancing around each other for ages and I'd been curious, despite the bad idea bells ringing in the back of my mine.

"Are _you_ sure?" I whispered with distraction evident in my voice. I'd started glancing between his lips and his eyes. He seemed to catch on quicker than I could react, weaving a hand into the back of my head and pulling me closer to him. I was expecting him to taste somewhat like spoiled meat with the whole 'I eat animals' thing, but instead he seemed to taste like maple syrup. Sweet but earthy at the same time.

I have to admit that I'm pretty sure I let out a little but of a moan because it seemed that he was spurred on by something. He'd gripped me a little tighter and kissed me just a little harder, and I followed his movement with little resistance. Even attempting to reciprocate the force with my own lips though I was pretty sure I could never generate that much force. I didn't really think about it when we laid back on the bed and he started trailing his lips and tongue down my neck or when I felt him grind into my hips. But my mind _did_ jump back to life when I felt sharp things graze my collar bone and his grip tighten.

"Em." I hissed opening my eyes as I tried to pull away a little. He seemed to halfway notice because his grip loosened but I could still feel the canines just pressing on my skin as I could feel the panic built up. I'd been told about the whole biting thing and I was _not_ into it. Vampires might get married for literally forever but I wasn't really interested in the whole marriage thing as a human, much less a vampire.

"Emmett!" I barked his name this time, putting all my energy into one good shove to push him backwards. He was moved back onto his knees looking incredibly confused until he took in my position and started to look a tad bit guilty.

"Shit." He cursed as he put his head into his hands, rubbing his eyes. I frowned as I sat up onto my knees and put my hands over his, I felt a little guilty that he was guilty. I mean it was all fine and good except for the whole nipping thing.

"Hey. Its alright." I murmured as I thought about trying to move his hands but found I couldn't.

"How? I almost bit you." He countered flatly. I tugged some more but he was just too strong. I was doing nothing and it seemed like he didn't even notice I was pulling on his hands.

"Well yeah there's that, but it was pretty good up until that part." I shrugged, letting my hands fall back down to my sides.

"Should have known that nothing would go according to plan with you." He snorted as he took a hand away from his face to twirl a piece of curly brown hair around his finger.

"Probably." I shrugged with a small grin forming.

He seemed content to just scan my face and play with the one curl as I started looking around the room during the bout of silence. I was wondering if he'd want to stay or if that was even a good idea or if he'd have plans. I mean I couldn't really imagine him having plans since everyone except him and his species slept at night but hey! A few hours ago, I didn't even think vampires existed. That opened up a whole can of the possible unknowns. I scoffed at that. If I saw a firefly, I'd be more likely to think it was a faerie.

"What?" He paused his twirling as I focused back on him.

"What, what?" I mimicked with a raised brow.

"You made a noise." His eyes narrowed.

"I'm human. We make _noises_ , Emmett." I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest. I'd need to work on the whole noises out loud versus my head thing.

"But...you don't usually make those noises." He countered. I paused for a second and shrugged.

"That you know of." I looked away from his face as he started to snorted quietly. I looked back at him and rolled my eyes then looked over his shoulder.

"Aw damn. Sun's up." I sighed as I rubbed a hand over my face. I'd missed an entire's night worth of sleep, damn it.

"Oh yeah. You guys sleep." Emmett drawled as I glowered at him.

"Yes. We do." I sighed as I flopped back down onto the pillow with a knee bent under me. I can't believe he took up alll my sleeping time. Its not like I had a bunch to spare.

"I'll pick you up?" He questioned oddly running one of his hands over my knee.

"Sure." I replied softly. His hand was cold and sent shivers up to my scalp. He let go of it and leaned over me, balancing on the palms of his hands and his knees.

"Aaawesome. I get to drive you _and_ take you home with me." Emmett said in a singsongy voice. He gave a wolfish grin down at me as I let a small smile crack over my glower. He brought out the smiley happy side of me, easy.

* * *

Charlie didn't comment when a red four door jeep pulled up in front of the house an hour later. He didn't even comment when Bella said she was just taking the truck, however he did comment when Emmett came to the front door.

"You look a little old to be in highschool, son." Charlie peered at Em. I felt blossoms of panic bubble up until he grinned back at Charlie.

"I get that a lot, sir. Makes the coaches run after me to take the quarterback spot." He chuckled. Apparently sports meant you were a good guy because Charlie totally relaxed.

"Oh I bet you do. Be safe on the roads today." He slapped Em on the back, grinning. I watched with an open mouth as he just slid on his belt and left. Just like that.

"Told you I have a way with dads." Em winked at me as he took the bag.

"Whatever." I rolled my eyes as I went out the front door and he shut it behind us.

* * *

I'd made it all the way through French, Chem, and I was sitting in English when I started to feel my eyelids droop. Then jumped right as the bell rung, signaling class was over. I was getting way too old for this. I was all good to stay awake when I was moving, like in the Cafeteria. I'd say with Bella and them but Em joined me making it the same awkwardly charged atmosphere we'd developed since the whole making out and vampire thing.

It changed the way I saw Jasper, kinda understood why I immediately felt like zooming off into the background with him around. According to Emmett, he was really the most threatening one. Confederate major at such a young age and the whole bit about how he was totally ready to snap Bells and I in two if we threatened the family's safety had me a little creeped still.

"Long night then?" A lightly accented voice asked me. I looked over to the side and spotted Catharin walking beside me and nodded. I wasn't sure how I'd not realised she was there the whole time outside of tiredness.

"You would know." I sighed as I turned to face her.

"You're not wrong, but I enjoy mine." She grinned cheekily as I rolled my eyes at the innuendo. Silence passed over us for a second as I started daydreaming about the past times I found the Cullens weird and went bug eyed when I remembered one big one.

"So...sorry about the whole asking if you were eating right thing." I apologized awkwardly, glancing between the locker and her shyly.

"Hey. Its totally fine, I get it everywhere. I was a 8 month pregnant woman in a colonial town. We weren't fed that well anyways." She snorted, waving it away. I paused again, opening my locker now to distract myself.

"You...you were pregnant? Was it Jasper's?" I started whispering immediately, knowing that a rumor about Catharin being pregnant would spread like wild fire for all the wrong reasons. Not only that but since I'd arrived to school with Em today, everyone was watching me for a reaction of some kind. Like I'd sprout wings or pop a unicorn horn out of my forehead. It got so bad that we didn't even eat with the usual crew, just sat off to the side while he asked me a million questions about my hobbies and plans.

"I was. I was a healer in my time, kinda like a shaman these days, so we didn't make much. But no. It was my husband's at the time. I was attacked in the shop. Taken out to the woods, woke up a few days later totally barren, wandered for a few weeks _then_ found Jazzy." She shook her head at the second portion as I listened with curiosity.

"Wow." I commented with a depressing tone in my voice. I was almost surprised she could talk about it so easily but it didn't occur to me that she was over a hundred years old and things weren't so great back in the civil war era. After I remembered that I guessed that she'd had a bit of time to process it.

"Yeah. He was on his way back to base for the Confederates." She smiled softly at the memory. I jumped a tad as pale hands took the book from her arm and looked back to see Jasper himself. He may have a tendency to startle me. Just a little.

"She asked why I'd bother fighting for them as she got on my horse for a free ride." He shrugged, adding to the conversation like he'd been here for all of it. I let out a snort at that and clapped a hand over my mouth.

"I did not. I asked _after_ I was on your horse." She corrected, wrapping a hand around his dangling one.

"Right. Sorry ma'am." He cracked a tiny smile over the solemn tired looking features as he looked back at her.

"Well...I'll just..." I jerked my thumb back to say I was about to bail on the couple when Catharin looked away from Jasper.

"Oh no, no. You get to ride with us in his jeep." She grinned.

"What about hi- Ooooh. Right." I furrowed my brow until I realised he'd just run. He said he'd get there before us anyways. I didn't really question it, in fact when he said it, I just replied 'Thats great, honey.' and pushed at potatoes on my plate.

"Mhm." She smiled and started walking as I closed my locker, turning to start walking behind her.

"I can take the bag, Miss Swan." Jasper gave me a tight smile as he held his hand out for the bag. I paused for a second, wondering why the hell he'd take it. We weren't dating. We weren't even close to friends.

"Goes against my code to let a lady carry something that heavy lookin'." He nodded towards the bag. OH. Right. Southern gentile. I forgot that was a thing.

"Right, sorry." I nodded, handing him the bag and quickly walking to catch up to Catharin. I knew he probably wouldn't kill me but it felt safer with his wife around. Like she'd stop him somehow.


	9. Chapter 9

"Alright, so. Might as well let you know now, Rose might not be so happy that you're coming by." Catharin began to speak from the front seat, Jasper was driving but kept one hand on her the whole ride. At first I was a little worried when we just cut off into the trees. Totally felt like he was about to kidnap me and bury the body later out here in the woods.

"Why?" I raised a brow from the back seat, wanting to lean closer to hear her over the radio. I couldn't lean forwards, Catharin had strapped me in with every belt possible. I was practically duct taped to the seat.

"Shes not told Isabella anything _and_ shes still dealing with Alice being right." Catharin shrugged. I nodded slowly, remembering that Alice was the first one that saw us coming. I hadn't spoken to her or Edward whatsoever except for a glare or two. Dude looked like a cheap romantic novel waiting to happen, while his wife looked like a life size pixie who lost her wings.

"And that has what to do with Em and I?" I raised both brows this time as I asked.

"You'd be apart of the family. Her family. Shes protective for reasons." Catharin replied, looking back at me over her shoulder. We were slowing down and I could see a clearing through the trees.

"I hate to break this to you guys but I'm not becoming apart of your family." I trailed off warily.

"Right." Jasper snorted from the driver's seat. He shook his head like he'd thought that at first as well. I remember Emmett telling me how old the couple was, over 140 years.

They were a little bit of an outlier, Catharin was more involved in the family than Jasper was according to Emmett. His best friend in the family outside of her was Em and they got into a lot of crap together. According to him sometime in the 70's they were watching _Dukes of Hazard_ and tried to recreate the stunt. It wrecked their mother's lawn and destroyed the car. Emmett told me a lot about Catharin and Jasper. Sometimes I felt like it might have been a little too much

"I'm a little surprised you haven't been driving your new car." Catharin commented after minute of silence.

"How do you know about the car?" I raised a brow, suspicious.

"Well we went with Emmett to pick it out, hard to not know about it." Catharin snorted incredulously.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What do you mean you went with Emmett to pick it out?" I checked, waving my hand around.

"Literally that. We went with him to pick it out then have it sent over for your 17 birthday, he dropped off the key like the day before or something. There was a note and everything." Catharin turned around in her seat with her brows furrowed. She was looking at me like I was an idiot and that bugged me.

"The note just said like Happy birthday, sorry I can't be there. How the hell am I supposed to know it was you guys?" I replied with some attitude, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Oh my god. He forgot to sign it." Catharin's mouth formed an O as she shook her head and looked over at her husband. Jasper paused for a second as the truck came to a full stop before he started to chuckle and tried to cover it up with a cough.

"Right. We're here." He nodded towards a big house with half wood and half concrete paneling on the outside. It looked modern enough with almost 4 stories and cut edges but it wasn't entirely my kinda thing. I started to undo the multitude of loops and locks before I could finally break free and open the door.

"...come on. He was nervous." Catharin sounded like she was sighing as she spoke to Jasper. He shrugged then mumbled something that was too low for my ears to pick up on but it sounded like 'too bad'.

"So it's just up this way." She noticed me and pointed to the front door.

"The front door is _usually_ the way." I raised my brows as I slowly nodded, a small smile was building up.

"Match made in heaven right there." She rolled her eyes and took Jasper's elbow. They walked up together, silent as always while my feet squelched and squeaked from the rain and slush. I entered in the door after them and took off my coat. When I turned back around I jumped a little to see that people had come out of every nook and cranny in the time I took to take off my coat.

"Hey." Emmett greeted with a grin. I gave him a short wave as he took the coat.

"I'm Esme, this is Carlisle." A women with hair that looked like caramel smiled at me. She stood next to a tall blonde man that looked to be in his early 20s. He had a kind face despite his eyes looking almost black.

"Alice! Oh, and this is Edward. I'm so glad I finally got to meet you. Emmett kept telling me to wait before I ambushed you." The short pixie girl came up now, wrapping her arms around me as she introduced herself and the redhead next to her.

"No I said you'd scare her away if you ambushed her. Shes still human." Emmett's voice vibrated and echoed around the open space. I patted her awkwardly on the back as she squeezed a little and popped back to her original position next to him. I gave her a tight smile as Emmett started to take my bag and went to hang it up. I was ignoring Rosalie who I knew for a fact was standing next to the couple. Catharin and Jasper were on the other side of her.

"I hope you like Italian chicken. Emmett said you ate it a lot." Esme smiled hesitantly.

"That...would be fine." I paused for a second before slowly nodding. I'd literally eaten chicken once since _meeting_ Emmett.

"We also have chocolate cake. Catharin said you guys really like sweets." Emmett grinned as he pulled me towards the kitchen and motioned to the entire chocolate cake that I was guessing I'd have to eat by myself.

"Oh dude. You guys didn't have to actually make a three course meal for me." I spoke with awe as I took in the cake. I did really like cake but not enough to eat the entire thing myself.

"Nonsense. I never get a taste tester for my food and you're perfect for it." Esme called as she entered the kitchen.

"Then I'm totally happy to be chosen for the job." I gave her a small grin as I nodded. She strikes me as the motherly type but lacked any actual child to mother. Hell Jasper and Catharin were 50 years older than her, maybe it was actually 40. Either way they were a bunch older. So was Edward and Alice, I think.

"How about you take her for a tour while I get everything ready." Esme suggested to Emmett with a small smile as we stood there for a second or two.

"Oh right." He grinned and pulled me along gently up the stairs and down the halls. On one side was Carlisle's office and Esme's hobby room. Then came his room, Catharin and Jaspers, and Edward and Alice's room.

"Knock knock!" Emmett opened the door to Catharin and Jasper's room as soon as the words got out of his mouth. The room was larger than my own, green, and had three big windows that were covered in pictures, at their base was what looked like herbs growing in little ceramic pots. The walls themselves were covered with what looked like old civil war memorabilia. There was a wrought iron bed with lights strung around it and an older looking purple couch that Catharin was sat back on.

"You know when you say 'knock knock', that doesn't count as two knocks." Catharin looked over her shoulder from the book. I felt a grin creep onto my face at that.

"It totally does." Emmett disagreed as he looked back to Jasper who was sitting across from her in another chair. His feet were propped up on the bed and he had a guitar in his hands.

"It really doesn't." Jasper snorted. I let out a little chuckle and pulled on Emmett's hand to pull him back out of their room.

"You're just agreeing with her to get laid tonight." Emmett rolled his eyes as he stepped back out of the room.

"Sorry! He was giving a house tour." I apologized as I closed the door to their room.

"This one's pretty much Alice's and her clothes. Edward has the music room downstairs." Emmett jerked his hand towards the closed door as I nodded. I didn't think they were close enough for him to just pop in there unannounced. He walked past it up to more stairs.

"Rose's, Carlisle and Esme's is upstairs and this one's mine." He winked as he opened the door to his own room, motioning for me to go inside. I took two steps in and looked around. He didn't have a bed but instead a futon looking thing covered with game cases. I looked to see that he had several open laptops and TV's with their screens next to them. It seemed that he liked electronics gauging by the game collection and the number of electronics that were taken apart. The walls were lined with sport's posters that surprised me a little.

"I'm kinda surprised you didn't have a bed." I raised a brow as I looked back at him with his hands in his pockets. He had two big windows and a larger closet that seemed to be filled with hoodies, jeans, flannels, and shoes. I think I might have seen a leather jacket or two.

"Told you I didn't mess around anymore." He grinned and shrugged. I wandered over to the closet and started rifling through his clothes. In part it was curiosity and the other part was just that everything in here smelled amazingly like him. The clothes included.

"Were you and Jasper greasers in the 80s?" I raised a brow as I pulled an older looking leather jacket from the closet.

"That would have been great but nah. Him and Cat had marriage problems and had to leave the family for some time off in the 80s." He shrugged. I nodded slowly and turned back around to continue going through his shit.

"That sucks. Where'd they go for it?" I was stalling and making conversation at this point just to hang around his bedroom. He had games stacked up on the top half of the closet.

"Oh, Colombia." He replied casually. I was honestly expecting him to say a fancy resort or a top dollar counselor but instead I was a little shocked.

"Weren't they having like huge social unrest and _war_?" I asked incredulously, turning from the closet to look at him. He was quite a bit closer than I thought he was, he'd been looking over my shoulder this whole time apparently.

"Yeah. Cat dipped into human there." He snorted as he nodded, leaning down closer to my face. He was so casual about a civil war. Good grief. He went quiet but caught my eyes, I felt a cold hand wrap around my jaw as I leaned just a little closer and met his lips in the middle. He wrapped an arm around my back, pulling my frame up against his as he got into the kiss.

"They didn't deserve to live." Catharin's voiced sounded from the doorway, making me jumped and pull back to look at her as she shrugged. Jasper was behind her but still back a little ways.

"Damn it, Cat." Emmett sighed as he turned back to face her.

"Its great to see what you guys talk about when you're alone." She started to grin and snickered, taking a few steps back. He flipped her off as shes started to full out laugh and motioned to the hallway, not able to get word out.

"Shes trying to tell you guys that dinner's ready." Jasper's voice was strained and it honestly looked like he was trying to hold back a smile as his wife hung on him, laughing.

"Yeah, yeah." Emmett rolled his eyes as they left. I could still hear her chuckling as they went down the stairs, it was almost a little embarrassing. Almost. Would have been embarrassing if his dad walked in. Now that I would have flipped my shit about. He pulled my face a little closer to his and kissed me again, slowly this time. I was a little dizzy when he pulled back grinning, which surprised me. I swear I've been breathing like a normal person should.

"Next purchase on my list is a bed." He mumbled with a boyish grin.

"Keep dreaming, steroid man." I rolled my eyes as I walked past him and out the door to go eat.

Dinner was tense. Sort of? Rosalie just sat across from me, glaring, while everyone else made conversation and pushed food around on their plates. I was a little amused that they'd gone through the lengths of actually putting food on their own plates for my sake. It was really when some how the conversation drifted to Bella that shit hit the fan.

"Oh, Bella was always the more responsible one." I snorted. Esme had asked about my mother and us when we were growing up.

"That much is obvious. You're in the den of vampires while she's making dinner for your father." Rosalie snapped, glaring at me. I felt my hackles raise as the table went silent.

"Funnily enough, she was the one that came to _me_ about you guys. Wanted me to do the research." I raised a brow, daring her to continue.

"Probably because I warned her to stay away. She's clever, like that, won't get her hands dirty." Rosalie took the bait and threw out her own.

"She is. To a point. Whats really funny is you'll never get her, without me." I motioned to myself with the fork still in my hand.

"I seriously doubt that." Rosalie's eyes narrowed to slits as she glared at me.

"Want to test it? I can go back and tell her you tried to bully her little sister, and we'll see if she talks to you again." I put my hand under my chin as I watched her from across the table. She almost snarled as she shattered the drinking glass she'd been squeezing.

"Screw this." She growled as she stood and disappeared in an instant. Carlisle and Esme followed after her a second later, I guessed this was all too fast for my eyes to actually see. A few seconds of silence went on, making me a tad bit worried I'd over stepped boundaries until Emmett let out a low whistle.

"That was the best cat fight ever." I looked over my shoulder at him grinning and flicked his shoulder.

"That was barely a cat fight. She'd kick my ass in one of those." I snorted.

"I don't think I've seen someone get to her level since she and Em tried to out build each other." Catharin spoke up from the other end, shaking her head. She looked impressed but also a little bewildered.

"Out build?" I raised a brow, questioning it.

"They tried to see who could build a car the fastest after getting into an argument about cars and their makes." Edward spoke, his voice was low but not as deep as Emmett or Jasper's. He seemed the more lanky and awkward out of the boys.

"I still say she cheated. She already knew how to put together the Porsche." Emmett huffed from next to me. I could see the competitive happening easily considering his competitive nature.

"By the way, has anyone here happened to forgot to sign their name on a gift lately? Because I might know someone." Jasper called out, beginning to smirk as he leaned over to look at Emmett.

"Jazzy." Catharin sighed from next to him, lightly smacking his shoulder as a scolding.

 


	10. Chapter 10

"Thank you for the meal, Mrs Cullen." I took the cake container from her hands as she smiled down at me. His entire family was this level of perfect and it was a little scary sometimes.

"Oh, just call me Esme. You're already apart of the family, dear." She tsked, waving her hand to dismiss the formalities.

"Oh." I commented warily. I didn't really know what else to say to that. I didn't especially _feel_ like I was one of their family members...I'd kinda just met them. I don't think I even wanted to be apart of their family like that. Sure as hell wasn't planning on marrying Emmett anytime soon.

"Thats what Jasper thought over 40 years ago. Now look at him." Edward snorted, motioning to the scary looking guy who shrugged.I was a little confused at first until I recalled he read thoughts.

"The marrying bit or the other one?" I essentially trailed off not really wanting to hurt Esme's feelings.

"Other one. Those two were meant to be married years before they were." Edward shook his head as he answered.

"We all have our reasons for being here, mine just happens to be her." Jasper shrugged using his head to motion to his wife who stood almost a whole foot shorter next to him. The pair was sweet but quiet in their affections, keeping it mostly to themselves unless Jasper got a little too handsy. I'd _actually_ seen him crack up next to her for the first time ever in class. It was almost terrifying.

I pursed my lips, about to comment on his little reason bit when I was tossed over Em's shoulder and my cake was missing. I was honestly more worried about the cake than I was about being put over Em's shoulder, as I looked around the ground for it, expecting it to be crushed and smeared

"Em...wheres the cake?" I put my hands on his back to lift myself forward and try to look at his other hand.

"In my hand." He waved it before he stuck it inside the backseat, belting it down. I was expecting him to drop me at this point but instead he just smacked my ass lightly when he sat me down in the front. I'd realised that he'd put doors on the wrangler when he picked me up this morning making it a recent thing.

"Just so you know, these were never used in the history of like ever so you're pretty lucky I remember how they go." He mentioned as he started to pull belts and Velcro-tabs from the sides of the seats.

"Am I supposed to feel blessed that you remember the seat-belt system?" I raised a brow down at him. He paused for a second, seeming to think about it.

"Nope. I am." He shook his head, continuing to snap belts into place.

"And whys that?" I tilted my head as he took a step up, his eyes were level with mine now. I raised a brow as he stared into my eyes, searching for something.

"Because I've got to keep all those bones in place before I rock 'em." He smirked as he leaned a little closer, kissing me.

I was again met with the taste of something oaksy and maple syrup but this time I think the chocolate cake turned it all into an odd coffee flavor. Maybe Esme had added coffee grounds to the cake...or maybe my taste buds were fried from kissing Emmett one time too many. He was a really terrific kisser, even made me forget how pervy that comment was. He pulled back a second later, curling another piece of brown hair around his finger as he leaned his forehead on mine, he looked happy to just stand here and curl my hair.

"I don't think that's really a blessing. More of a curse, really." I challenged, looking down towards his feet. He was wearing what looked like tennis shoes but they were entirely black and looked a little shinier than others I'd seen before.

"We'll see if you still say that after one night with me." He winked, stepping back down to go to the driver's seat. I looked behind him quickly and found with some relief that his mother and father weren't standing right there anymore. I was halfway worried Esme would go from 'you're apart of the family' to 'you took my son's innocence' or 'you broke my sons heart' after we got through all of this.

* * *

"Hey so, I was thinkin'. Since you already know about the whole vampire thing, maybe we could have a little meet and greet tonight." Emmett winked at me across the Jeep. I tried to roll my eyes but I think all the bumps and jumps of the car rocketing off on some dirt road he insisted was faster than the cemented one everyone took. Right now, I was totally voting for the cement one.

"Keep on thinkin'." I snorted with my voice vibrating and jumping as my body shook. I was totally strapped in but that didn't stop the engine and the road from almost shaking the fillings out of my mouth.

"Aw, come on babe. I just want to hang around, I won't even touch. Much. Scouts honor." He took his hands off the wheel to do the cross over his heart. I didn't even know how he, a guy that was born in the early 20th century, knew that idiom but he did. And he took his hands off the wheel to do it. He. Took. His. Hands. Off. The. Wheel.

"WHEEL. KEEP YOUR FREAKING HANDS ON IT." I screamed out of a bit of annoyance and a bit of terror as I realised what had happened. I tried to launch myself forwards but the multitude of straps kept me in place.

"Whoa there. Steady on, I'll have you know I'm an incredible driver." He looked a little taken aback as he put a giant hand over my thigh, covering it. I felt my heart beat speeding up as I gripped his hand.

"Just. Just keep your hands on the wheel." I breathed out slowly. I totally forgot for a second that the dude had supernatural reflexes and was the size of a black bear. Scared the hell out of me.

"Alright, alright. Hand will be on the wheel from now on." He assured me as he lightly squeezed my leg, looking over at me. I nodded back, putting another hand over my heart as it slowed down. I had no idea why that was such a big deal suddenly. It just was right in the same moment that I realised he let go of the wheel, my body had me thinking I was in mortal danger somehow.

"But the _other_ hand...Now that's going to wander." He grinned at me looking a little expectant and nervous as his hand creeped up to my stomach. I tried to just deadpan at him, thinking he was just going to go for a bit of skin but instead he started to tickle me. I went wide eyed for a second before the nerves kicked in and I started to giggle and try to swat his hand away.

"Alright! Alrigh- Ooh my god. E-enough!" The grin was infectious and eventually I started to laugh between breaths making my voice breathy and squeaky. He retracted his hand, his grin was still prominent on his face as he looked away from me back to the trees as they began to part to a cement road in front of us.

"There we go." He let out a breath as he seemed to relax in his seat. I'd guessed he felt guilty about the scaring me thing but I wasn't sure. It could have just been that he was totally lost in the woods and just now found the road again too.

"I feel like the cake is going to be in pieces." I commented as I saw my house in the distance. We'd gotten home maybe 10 minutes earlier than I originally thought we would at 8:30ish.

"It'll just taste better that way, right?" He shrugged, looking over at me.

"I guess but it was so pretty." I pouted as I looked behind us to the cake carrier that was smeared with brown icing. Esme had put so much work into that and now it was smeared around the container. It had roses and pearls and things I'd probably never learn how to make.

"Well...we're here." Emmett sounded almost a little melancholic as he sighed and reached for the door handle.

"Think about tonight. I'll tap but you don't have to let me in." He looked up from the door handle back to me, looking heartfelt in his words. I nodded slowly, processing it before I responded.

"Alright. Don't expect much." I warned, going to undo one of the velcro-straps.

"Psh. I _always_ expect the unexpected with you, babe." He declared with a deep chuckle as he got out of the car and went around to my side. He opened the door and I raised my arms up as he started on the belts.

"Your dad's watching in the living room. Wanna give him a show?" Emmett said lowly, looking up to me while waggling his eyebrows at me.

"How do you know that?" I narrowed my eyes as I asked slowly.

"I can hear him talking to Bella about my jeep and whether or not you were safe in it." He described as he finished undoing the belts.

"Well I want to live another day, thanks." I rolled my eyes going to step out of the jeep, well more like jump out at my height and how high the jeep was raised. I should just start bringing a step stool around with me everywhere. It'd help in a _lot_ of situations.

"Alright there, chicken little." He snorted, nodding his head. Instead Emmett's hands sneaked around my waist as he lifted me up and out of the jeep, setting me down softly on the grass.

"Show off." I admonished with narrowed eyes still.

"Oh that wasn't showing off, Lyn." He chuckled with a grin that showed all his pearly white teeth.

"Whatever, steroid man. Grab my cake." I motioned to the back jeep doors with a wave of my hand as he pecked my forehead then nodded. He grabbed the cake then slammed the door shut and started heading for the door. We were maybe a foot away when Emmett grabbed my hand and Charlie opened the door with a quick gust of air.

"Welcome back." Charlie drawled with crossed arms from the door way, eyeing our hands.

"Did you get to see the Blue Raider's game?" I went to shake Em's off but he seemed more interested in asking Charlie about a football game he'd missed. I wasn't that fond of football so I had no idea who the raiders were or why they were blue. I was much more interested in watching fencing competitions or figure skating. Those just looked so much more interesting and prettier to me.

"Tennessee fan, huh?" Charlie raised his brows, looking Emmett up and down. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I saw brown hair and pale skin pop around Charlie signaling Bella was standing next to him at this point. She looked a little tense as she took in Emmett standing next to me with a grin that stretched across his face.

"Born there, sir. Gotta support the home state." Emmett shrugged as he explained it. I got who the blue raiders were now but I still didn't get the point of this. How did sports make Emmett okay for Charlie? How did that even work? Was it a dude thing where they support the same games and suddenly they're both great guys?

"You're makin' some good choices then. But the old Raider's lost to the damn Hokies tonight." Charlie sighed, shaking his head. This was probably the most emotion I'd seen on his face since Bella and I got here over a month ago now.

"Damn. They've got to have better luck against the Bears." Emmett looked a little downtrodden for a second maybe before he perked back up.

"God, I'd hope so. Thanks for getting Ivey back home safe." Charlie nodded before thanking him. I almost corrected him and said that I only got home in one piece because of how many straps Emmett had in his filling-shaker on a dirt road.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> little lemon down below.

"So what did you find out?" Bella came into my room almost immediately after I got home and I was currently trying to change into night clothes.

"Thanks for knocking." I chastised her sarcastically as I continued to shimmy out of my jeans.

"Sorry. But still, what did you find out?" She knocked on my nightstand twice to make up for her lack of knocks earlier.

"I know that Rosalie likes you." I sighed a little at that fact while she blushed two shades deeper than I thought possible for her.

"Well...how do you know that?" She looked up from twiddling with my bed covers.

"Because I talked about you not talking to her and she broke a glass." I deadpanned, leaving out the other bits of the dinner. Like them not eating, or them disappearing because my eyes are just really slow to process as a human.

"Why a glass?" She tilted her head with her brows furrowed together.

"It was in her hand." I shrugged feeling pretty good about myself for distracting her as I pulled on a giant t-shirt I didn't realize I had until now.

"Why was she holding a glass?" She seemed entirely interested to keep talking about Rosalie which was a plus for all of us.

"Because people drink water at dinner, Bella. I don't know!" I decided, throwing my hands up in the air in mock exasperation. She just rolled her eyes and stood.

"Nothing...weird? Or vampirey?" She titled her head, analyzing my expression. I shook my head quickly.

"Just the usual weird." I half-lied, staring her in the eyes. I couldn't full out lie to my sister but I couldn't tell her the truth either so I went down the middle and told her a half truth. It was one that she wouldn't figure out until Rosalie told her and she couldn't say I lied either.

"Alright." She sighed, nodding to herself as she hung around the door.

"Night." She pursed her lips as she spoke.

"Night, Bells." I nodded towards her, crawling over to bed in my giant t shirt. She nodded to herself again and closed the door entirely. I felt my eyes drifting shut when I heard the tapping start. Motherfucker.

"Just open it." I mumbled into the blankets. A second later the window was opened and the smell of Emmett filled up the room, it tickled my nose almost. I felt the bed dipped next to me but I didn't hear the sound of the window closing.

"Close the window first." I motioned in the general direction I could feel cold breezes coming from. With him around, I already had enough of the cold chills happening.

"Aren't you supposed to be sleeping?" He grumbled as he got up and closed the window behind him.

"Aren't you supposed to be in your own room?" I retorted with just as much annoyance.

"I got bored." The bed dipped again and I felt cold lips land on my exposed neck going slowly up in a line to my ear where he seemed to stop. It sent warm fuzzy chills down to one specific region which made me realize I had a spot that got me hot and he'd found it. Oh nooooo. Nonono.

"You got bored and I need sleep, kinda missed out on that last night." I muttered, rolling over to put my back against him, and making sure my hair covered my neck this time. He was _not_ getting that kind of advantage here. I'd never get any sleep at that rate.

"You sure, you're not interest?" He teased and ran a hand down my side to lay flat against my stomach. It stayed there, surprisingly, which just sort of gave me a cold pack to calm down from the neck thing. That was incredibly new and I didn't know if I particularly liked it or if it just meant that Em wasn't allowed to nuzzle my neck anymore.

"Yes, I'm sure." I breathed out slowly into the darkness. I could smell him all over which was odd for me but also very much enticing because I enjoyed the smell of him so much. It was like the most perfect smell I'd ever come across in the history of ever. A mix of oak and grass and the oddly sweet smell of sugar being heated over a stove.

"The smell of you and your heart beat says differently...but alright, Lyn." He snorted behind me, it sounded like his head was right above mine. I paused my breathing a little remembering that he could both hear my heart beat _and_ smell me that in depth. Shit me.

"Well...your nose is wrong." I declared with a humph of self righteousness. It was the best I could do to cover it all up because I didn't think my heart beat would slow down or that a smell I couldn't smell would change super quickly. He seemed to only chuckle and lay his head down behind mine, I could feel his cold body against the back of my legs and torso.

"Pick up your head for a sec." He whispered, I obliged and slowly raised my head off the pillow with a bit of hesitance. I was about to ask what the hell was going on when he slid his arm under my head, it was cold and hard against my neck and head with sort of threw me but I was going to go with it. Maybe it'd get more comfortable?

I felt my eyelids slowly get heavier and heavier as my own body heat warmed up his arm. I always thought that guys hated being the big spoon because their arms fell asleep and there was always a bunch of hair to inhale accidentally and choke on. Emmett seemed to love it, he was drawing little shapes into my stomach and sounded almost like he was purring behind me. I thought about cracking a kitten joke but I fell asleep before I could roll over and tell it.

_I'm laying in a grass field with tall stalks reaching up past my head to the sky. There isn't any one else that I can tell so I stand and walk over to a river. On the other side is Em, hes waving and grinning. He speaks, no words are said but I know hes asking me to come over there. I look down at the river and suddenly it seems like it's moving a lot faster, stronger, and it's gotten deeper._

_I look back up and say no. He just sort of shrugs and walks across it, picking me up before he took me back across the river.  
_

_The scene flipped around, I was sitting on a blanket in the middle of fall. Leaves were falling and I wasn't alone. Emmett's hands snuck around my waist pulling my shirt and pants off in a swift motion. His hands fluttered down until I felt a finger rubbing against my clit. It felt good as I arched my back and turned to look behind me, my eyes were closed as I kissed him._

_I opened them to see Jasper's black eyes glinting back at me as he pulled back, his chin bloody and red. He grinned as he opened his mouth to say something before I leaned backwards, a scream bubbling in my throat._

I jumped awake at the sound of my alarm clock as it was switched off. I blinked a few times to see Emmett's dimpled grin delve into a smirk as he kissed my numb feeling lips softly.

"You-" I was about to tell him he really didn't want to do that because I had awful morning breath. He didn't seem to listen as he just kissed me again, breaking off the sentence.

"Em. I have really awful morning breath." I pushed his head back a little to tell him.

"I don't really care." He seemed to only shrug, his eyes were still on my lips.

"Seriously? Thats gross. Ewe." I stuck my tongue out of disgust. He seemed to smirk deeper as he bent down in the slightest and sucked on it before he went back to kissing me hard. His own tongue took dominance quickly as he sucked on my bottom lip and nipped at it lightly. I felt him straddle me as I returned the kiss without another clear thought. My teeth clacked against his as he turned his head and his hand traveled up to grip my breast.

He stopped for a second before he growled, "Shit." and disappeared from above me. I sat up as the door opened and went to act like I was getting dressed again as Bella popped her head around the corner.

"Oh good, you're up." She sounded mildly surprised but like it was pleasant one.

"Yup!" I breathed with a crack in my voice. She seemed to pause in the door way at that as I went to pull a random shirt out of my dresser with my back still towards her.

"You okay?" She checked.

"Perfect. Never been better, Bella." I replied quickly. I thought about turning around and giving her a thumbs up but decided against it in case she saw my face.

"Sorry. I just wanted to check in. You were...making noises in your sleep. If you had a nightmare and want to talk about it, let me know." She spoke quietly as she took a few heavy steps back and closed the door behind her.

"You did make quite the range of noises last night." Emmett's deep voice commented from the bed, I glared down at the open dresser drawer with some mortification. I'd essentially had a wet dream...about his brother.

"Oh yeah?" My voice was tight as I started to dig through t-shirts and sweaters. It started out as him but then some how it went to his terrifying brother who apparently I was totally into? How did that even happen? How do you even explain that to a guy? _'hey so you know how I'm terrified of your brother? Yeah. The same one who was totally up for killing me if you screwed up. Apparently I'm also very much attracted to him.'_

"Yeah. Kept screaming out my name. Sounded like a wet dream." I never talked in my sleep. Ever. That was Bella's thing. Instead I was a kicker, I acted out my dreams. That little fact made me feel like he was teasing me but at the same time I was having issues dealing with possible suspicions that he knew I'd dreamed about Jasper palming me. My neck felt like it was on fire as all the blood drifted around there.

"Oh shit, you're blushing. Did you serious-" Emmett sounded incredibly surprised as he exclaimed.

"Shut up." I hissed, holding up a hand to him. It didn't sound like he knew it was Jasper just yet.

"I'm flattered." He appeared behind me, a hand drifting around the bottom of my neck as he smirked down at me. My hair caught my eye, it wasn't hanging down like the rest of my strands.

"D-did...did you _braid_ my hair last night?" I asked incredulously as I leaned closer to the mirror to see a haphazard braid coming down from the crown of my head to red against my cheek.

"I've seen Alice do it to Cat and Rose all the time. I wanted to try but they'd never let me near their hair so I tried it on you." He grinned happily back as I drew my eyebrows close together in a grimace. I'd been his sleeping hair model.

"Just...just go while I get ready for school." I sighed and pressed my hands against my face, covering it. It was nice, having finally calmed down from the dream thing. But I knew it was just the beginning. It'd be so _weird_ around Jasper in French, oh my god then I'd have to see his wife in English. WHAT THE HELL, BRAIN?

* * *

"Okay, I'll bite. Whats up?" Emmett had parked the jeep in the school parking lot. We were facing the parking lot which left me to watch the other students watch me and whisper to their friends.

"What do you mean, whats up?" I was trying to busy myself by getting all the straps undone in time for me to slip out of the car without having to have this stupid fucking conversation.

"All morning, you've just said 'uh huh' or 'nuh-uh'. I even cracked a joke and you just gave me this weird fake laugh." He frowned, pausing my busy work by putting his hand over mine. Motherfucker. I was hoping he wouldn't notice. Wait Edward's around, isn't he? I peered out the windows, looking around for the mind reading redhead. I saw Jasper come in on his bike but not Catharin. Whew. Okay. Maybe I wouldn't have to face her today.

"Ivalyn. Whoo-hoo. Over here." Emmett snapped his fingers close to my ear to draw my attention back to him.

"Oh. I'm just tired." I shrugged, continuing my seat belts and went to grab my bag when it seemed I was close to the end.

It wasn't there. I looked up to see Emmett sigh as he just opened his door with it over his shoulder and hopped out easily. This was just like a step down for him, like he was just having a normal walk in the park and there was a little dip in the pavement. For me it was closer to jumping off a cliff.

"I'll find out. One way or another." A few seconds later the door opened and he stepped up, finishing off my belts. He looked me in the eyes as he promised it, picking me up slightly to sit me on the ground. I saw a blue _Audi TT_ come through that looked to be only a two door. I hadn't seen it before. Out stepped Catharin and fucking Edward. When did they start to carpool? Fuuuuck. I couldn't catch a break on this Wednesday.


	12. Chapter 12

"How was Chem?" Emmett greeted me at the chemistry room's door. He took my bag almost immediately, hanging it off of his shoulder while he wore his own bag on his back.

"Fine." I sighed. It was tiring trying to avoid thinking about one particular thing all day.

"You sure?" He raised a brow, cutting me a look without turning his head towards me.

"If you keep asking me if I'm sure, how the hell am I ever supposed to be sure!?" I glowered, throwing my hands up in the air. He'd actually only asked me this once, I don't even know what came over me outside of lunacy.

"Jesus, Lyn." He looked a little taken aback at my outburst as he mumbled. I just made a noise of annoyance and yanked the bag off his shoulder, speed walking to the stupid french class.

I sat down with a loud omph next to Jasper that brought a fresh wave of oddball attraction that I tried my best to kill. Stupid fucking Jasper Cullen, or Whitlock. Whatever the fuck his last name was. He gave me a small glance of confusion which I promptly ignored to continue attempting to shove everything down and out. We didn't speak for the class like usual and I was focused solely on drawing circles.

I didn't even realise the class was over by the time everyone had filled out leaving Jasper and I. I think he'd been waiting on me to move like usual, always the gentleman, when Em came in.

"Hey!" He banged on the desk, making me jump almost 3 feet in the air out of fright. I looked up from the page and glared at the grinning, dimpled, guy. He was laughing as I glared at him.

"You shit." I cursed before I actually looked around to see that everyone was gone. Even the stupid teacher was gone. How'd I miss this?

"Hey, if I never came around, Jasper would probably still be waiting for you to get up out of his way." Emmett shrugged as I stood and shoved all my things into the bag quickly.

"Sorry, Jasper." I apologized shyly, not looking him in the eyes before I turned and marched past Em out the door. I somehow thought it'd take him longer to catch up with me but it really didn't. It took him all of 30 seconds before he threw an arm over my shoulders when we entered the cafeteria.

"So where we goin', babe?" It was loud suddenly with people yelling and giggling over the noise which only added to it.

" _I'm_ going to sit with regular people. _You're_ going to sit wherever." I scoped out Mike and went to slide in next to him. I knew that Edward could still read minds at that distance but it made me feel better even if it wasn't a real comfort.

"Great." Emmett seemed a little annoyed as he stomped away, he almost shook the room as he did so. He collapsed in the plastic seat next to Edward and seemed to immediately begin to talk to him. I felt my hackles rise as Edward nodded and looked back to me, seeming to focus. _Fuck. Sing the alphabet. A. B. C. D. E. F..._

"Heya Ives. Nice to see you around here again." Mike greeted me cheerfully. I gave him a tight smile and a short wave, talking to him was distracting me and letting my mind wander back to last night before I chopped it off right before again.

"Nice to be around here again, Mikey." I gave him a quick nickname to think about for a while.

"Yeah. We kind expected you to be like over there with the giant hunk." Jessica snorted as she motioned past me with her hand. I spared a glance over to the Cullen table to see Em and Edward watching me. _Okay! H. I. J. K..._

"Hm?" I raised a brow at Jessica as Lauren leaned closer.

"So have you slept with him yet? Is he big?" Lauren whispered conspiratorially as Mike, Ben, and Eric all made audible noises of disgust.

"No...not really." I paused for a second thinking about that.

"No you haven't slept with him or no he isn't big?" Lauren frowned as she tried to get me to clarifiy. _I mean we've done a few things but I'd dreamed anything else and that all turned out to be..._

"Come on guys. She doesn't have to talk about that if she doesn't want too." Angela stepped up as I went quiet, realizing my mistake.

"Seriously. Lets just not." Mike agreed wholeheartedly. I spun my head around to look at Edward who seemed to be choking across the cafeteria.

"Um. I'll...I'll be right back." I stood quickly, stalking across the cafeteria to the Cullens all alone on the other side. It was for the briefest of seconds, a millisecond maybe, that I'd thought about it. _DON'T YOU DARE TELL HIM, EDWARD CULLEN._ I was screaming in my mind at him as Em slapped him on the back, looking urgent.

"Edward...Can I talk to you?" I hissed as I realized nearly everyone was watching us interact.

"Is everything okay?" Catharin's lilty voice broke the sounds of Edward coughing and Em slapping his back.

"Totally fine." I breath as I looked at her. She was sitting so close to Jasper that she was almost on his lap, her legs were crossed over his and their hands were joined. She'd worn a dress today I think, it explained the straps and why her hair was up.

"I'm not going to say anything. What...what you think about is your own business." Edward calculated with his head bowed.

"What's hers to think about?" Emmett asked looking between us quickly. Alice's tilted as she looked between us at the interaction. _He thinks it was him and it was..._ I pursed my lips as I tried to dictate the importance and the weirdness of it all.

"Until the end." Edward finished for me, nodding. _Exactly._

"I don't think he'd be all that bothered, honestly. Maybe his pride." Edward shrugged as he pushed around a cookie on his tray. _I just want to forget about it. It was weird enough sitting next to Jasper during french._

"Guys! Come _on_." Emmett was exasperated that he had no idea what we were discussing.

"Well this isn't exactly the best way to do it." Edward raised a brow, sitting back to put an arm around the back of his wife's chair. _I didn't really have another choice_. I glared at him now.

"I guess." He sighed, looking back at me.

"That's it." Emmett stood with a loud grating noise of his chair against the floor. He took my hand and pulled me out of the cafeteria to the outside.

"Just perfect." I grumbled at Edward as Em pulled me out through the side door and along to the back of the school. No one but the smokers came out here, and I could smell weed drifting up from somewhere in the trees telling me they were out there.

"Whaaat?" I whined, crossing my arms over my chest.

He took a few steps closer until I hit the wall when he put his arms up around my head. "You can't just keep shit from me with my brother. I don't even like Eddie that much." Emmett just frowned, both annoyed and exasperated.

I pursed my lips, thinking about an answer as I looked him back in the eyes. "Its not really that I'm _keeping_ something from you. Its just..." I blew air out of my mouth slowly as I tried to think of a nice way to frame it.

"Just what? Your heartbeat's all out of wack." He looked frustrated now as he focused entirely on me.

I nodded. "Yup. You're not wrong there." I finished lamely. Not much else to say about that.

He kinda already knew it when I stomped over there to see him, Edward, Alice, and the duo that never left each other's side. Now that I think of it...I didn't see Rosalie. Or Bella. I had to guess they were together some where because when one Cullen left, the entire family left. Last time it was about Edward possibly losing control around Bells.

"Have you seen Rosalie?" I furrowed my brow as it really hit me that she wasn't to be found and the last time I saw her, she was kinda pissed as hell. Didn't bode well for me.

He seemed to almost growl and pressed up against me. "Don't try to change the subject. I waited all day for an explanation." His face was much closer to mine now which only made it better when I started to laugh.

"You've waited literally four _hours_." I giggled, trying to stop myself from laughing in his face.

"Thats still a really long time for me." He frowned, his eyes were on my lips as he stood there. Em had like no patience at all. Originally he was supposed to wait a week or two before he tried to ask me out but he pretty much said screw it and did it in the first week. Then he was supposed to wait for me to calm the hell down and he did the same thing as the first time, he lost patience and just showed up outside my window.

I blinked maybe twice before Emmett lost his patience again and kissed me. This time our teeth didn't bounce off each other but I did nip at his lip which somehow prompted him to slide a hand up my shirt and bra. Through the smell of trees and the taste of sweetness, I smelled the weed again. It reminded me that we were still _totally_ making out in public, on the back side of Fork's high school. Gross.

"Alright!" I pushed him back with a little bit of panic and some embarrassment. I liked screwing on school grounds as much as the next girl but I didn't enjoy macking in public.

He didn't move fully back as I was hoping, instead he just pulled away from my lips and dragged his teeth town my throat. "Going to tell me or do I get to go exploring?" He snickered at the tensing when he hit the same spot on my neck from last night.

I bit my lip to keep from making any noises that would egg him on. "Ah-kay! Okay, okay, okay. I had the...dream but it wasn't you." I whispered quickly, looking around for Bella or a teacher to come tag us.

That comment made him pause, he pulled back entirely to look me in the eyes. "Who was it?" He looked bothered now, taking a full step back from me.

"Um." I pulled my hair over my neck and kept stroking it as I calmed way the hell down. I don't know how he _always_ got me so riled up that I lost my train of thought.

"It wasn't Newton, was it?" He groaned, putting a hand over his face.

I shook my head, "Nope." I wasn't really sure if he'd like the answer.

"Look. It started out as you but then it got really...horrific? Like blood everywhere kinda thing. And, uh." I bit my lip again, thinking this time as I started to pace in front of him. I kept trying to think of a way to put this off. To get out of it.

I could technically just walk away but I went to school with Emmett. I knew his family. Hell, he was a vampire I could walk away right now and he could be in my room before I even got to the parking lot. I don't have really have like a lot of options here.

"It was Jasper." I mumbled it, hoping he wouldn't hear and he'd have to ask me again. But then I could just say 'well I said it, not my fault you didn't hear it, ' Yes. I like that plan.

He took a hand away from his face, looking at me. "Seriously? He wanted to kill you. Like a lot of times. If it wasn't for Catharin or me, he would have _killed_ you." He spoke incredulously. Okay so Plan A wasn't going to happen. His hearing was too good.

"I know. I don't get it either." I nodded, throwing my hands up in the air. I pursed my lips as I took in the events of last night. "In fact, I blame you." I took a step forwards and tapped Em's chest. He looked incredulously down at me, his mouth was open but I spoke before he could.

"If you didn't get me all riled up last night before I went to bed, it would have just been a nightmare about Jasper." I declared with a nod. Emmett's mouth opened then closed twice before a shit-eating grin spread across his face.

"I knew you were interested last night. I _knew_ it! My nose wasn't wrong! HAH!" He picked me up and spun me around in circle before he squeezed me to him. I patted his head before he sat me down and kissed the top of my head.


	13. Chapter 13

English was awkward, considering I was talking to both his sister and his best friend's wife... but I think Catharin was more than happy that we'd worked it out between ourselves. I was kinda wondering whether or not she even knew about it until she walked with me to the lockers.

We were standing there, relatively quiet until Jasper appeared to take her home. He was always so quiet when he moved, I couldn't even hear the fabrics rubbing together when he walked. Freaky as hell most of the time but also very fascinating.

"Ready?" His voice was low and his eyes were on her the whole time. It felt like he was almost ignoring me. She nodded with a tiny smile as I jumped at the feeling of two large hands sliding around my back to rest on my stomach.

"I feel like I should ask you for that rematch now." Emmett's deep voice vibrated against my back. Jasper's eyes cut across from mine up to his with a slow grin forming.

"Try the arm wrestling again tomorrow." Catharin declared as she took Jasper's hand and began to pull him away. "Instead, get her to think about you tonight." Catharin yelled with a grin forming.

"Oh my god." I whispered as I felt my face blanch, everyone's head turned to look at Em and I almost automatically.

"Oh trust me, she will!" Emmett yelled back to her. She just stuck up her thumb in a thumbs-up. Jasper's lazy grin continued as he took her hand and pressed it to his lips, following her out the door.

"Hush!" I hissed, pulling away to smack his arm. His grip was loose but it wasn't loose enough for me to slip out of it unless I crouched and that just felt like it'd get even _more_ weird.

He was chuckling as I grunted in his arms. "Aw come on. It was funny." His fingers tapped along in a line on my stomach trying to get me to give into the humor that I was too embarrassed to feel at this point.

"Just hush and let me go home already." I admonished as I pulled away from his arms to close my locker. I headed out towards the parking lot with Emmett who seemed happy enough to just put his arm over my shoulder and walk with me to Bella's truck...Her truck was here but where was she?

"Emmett...do you see Bella anywhere?" I whispered staring at the parking spot that she _always_ took. She was always around after school, it was like clockwork.

"Nah. But I guess that means you get to come with me." Emmett winked which just made me glower deeper at his expression. I followed along next to him with a quiet worry that was just slowly building.

"I'm going to just check inside one more time." I ducked out from under his arm as we go to the Wrangler and handed him my bag.

He was shrugged as he turned. "Alright." He was easy going which I loved about him, well he was generally easy going. He wasn't all that calm today but he forgave easy which was great because I messed up, often.

I turned and started a slow jog as I went back into the school's hallways and started going along the lockers, then the cafeteria, then a set of classrooms that somewhere there was the biology class. Mike Newton came out of one of them as I went to peek in, making us both jump back.

"Woa! Sorry there." He grinned, putting a hand up as he laughed it off.

"Kinda reminds me of how we first met." I gave him a small smile as I commented slowly. She wasn't in the class but he'd been in class with her so maybe he knew where she was?

He snapped his fingers and he nodded, the look of understanding erupted over his features. "Oh yeah! Definitely." He switched legs as he looked at me, putting a hand behind his head to rub his neck. "So I wanted to ask you about Prom." He sounded hesitant as he trailed off.

"Oh yeah?" I swallowed deeply as I pursed my lips.

"I know its not a big promposal but um. I was wondering if you-" His eyes darted around until they settled on mine and he just...stopped? This was making me a little nervous, she wasn't around and now a guy was asking me out to prom. That was rare. It was even rarer that a guy was stopped mid-sentence when he was asking me out to prom. What world was I in? I hadn't skipped classes, I was doing homework, I _did_ have a guy sleeping over but he hadn't gotten past a short grope.

I raised a brow, waiting for him to continue. When he didn't, I spoke."Right...well. Have you seen Bella?" I asked hesitantly and waited for him to gather his thoughts.

"Isn't that her, over there?" He motioned behind me with a pale face. I looked over my shoulder to just see the edge of Bella's back around the corner. It looked exposed, like she wasn't...dressed? It was definitely Bella though, her hair was everywhere.

I turned from Mike and quickly speed walked to where she was to find that she wasn't alone. Rosalie was right next to her. "Oh my god! Nevermind." I exclaimed and covered my eyes and turned around to walk away as soon as I realised that I was actually watching my sister make out with Rosalie Hale. There were sounds of feet hitting ground and clothes being moved as I speed walked my ass away.

I didn't care about my friends making out around me, I was okay with third wheeling it. I am. I really am. I'm just not okay with my _sister_ making out with _her_. Of all the people...WHY.

Emmett was leaning against his jeep, grinning at Alice on the other side of Edward's car. She looked to be laughing until I came stalking up, red eared and all. Emmett's attention turned from her to me as soon as she stopped laughing. He started walking towards me, looking almost panicked.

"Whats wrong?" He called from a few feet away.

"Bella is totally fine. Lets go home." I choked out as I shook my head, unable to process what I'd just seen. It wasn't something that would leave my mind anytime soon but it also wasn't something that I wanted to see. Like ever. I could have gone my full 80 years of life without ever seeing that. God can you imagine me with Emmett in like 60 years? No. Lets not go that far. Emmett was a highschool crush. Nothing more.

I looked up from the ground to meet eyes with Edward and quickly looked away at his expression. He looked almost sad but not for himself or was it frustrated? I don't know. Its hard to tell with Edward's resting bitch face. Hands wrapped around my waist, bringing me out of my thoughts as Em lifted me into the jeep. I was still too short and lacked the upper body strength to just catapult myself into his car which was totally ridiculous.

* * *

I didn't really say anything to Em on the ride over to my house. The stupid car was still sitting out front, bow and all. I knew it'd kinda bothered him when I didn't even unlock the car when he got it for me as a gift but I wasn't into scaring the hell out of my dad over this. He'd asked that we left it alone until he got word back from whoever he'd spoken too and he'd get back to Bella and I.

"She beat us home." I mumbled as I took in Bella's truck out front.

"Good job, you can see." Em teased taking my hand and kissing it softly. I cut him a look from the side of my face, not fully turning it. It was a halfhearted joke and we both knew it.

"Think maybe I can come in?" He asked quickly. I pursed my lips and began to shake my head. It was too risky with Bella there. "Rose is already here." He added the last bit in some effort to change my mind. I felt my jaw drop open with disbelief. Damn it.

" _Seriously_? Isn't she like the youngest and least controlled or something?" I asked incredulously, starting to pull apart the belts that kept my frame strapped into the car.

"Nah. The best of us is Carlisle and Catharin, both of them used to work nonstop around humans that were bleeding out, but then Edward and Rosalie and Alice come around. They're alright at it but Rose is probably a little better because she's never tasted the blood." He shrugged, explaining it all as I fought with seat belts. I paused as it processed and looked up at him.

"So _you_ have the worst control?" I tilted my head, glowering at him. It didn't feel like Emmett would hurt me but accidents happen all the time and I was almost bothered he'd be that careless with me.

"Oh no. Thats Jasper." He smirked, leaning over to undo my belts. He was methodical about it, calm even. Much more calm than I'd ever been about anything really. Calm wasn't my forte. I went about life half-cocked and hare-brained. So far it'd gotten me almost in jail, a hand on fencing, and a vampire...boyfriend? Was he really a boyfriend?

"Em..." I trailed off wondering if it was really a good idea to ask. We'd only known each other maybe a month at most. We hadn't even gone on a single date and I'd already met his parents _and_ learned his deep dark secrets.

"Whats on your mind, Lyn?" He asked curiously as he took my hand and squeezed it. He was a sweet looking guy, definitely didn't look 18 though. Closer to 25. I feel like he'd have had blue eyes when he was human.

"Were your eyes blue when you were human?" I tilted my head, asking that instead of the other more serious question. I kinda wished he was human and we could just live out our days together instead of me leaving him after high school. Kids that looked like Em would have been adorable. That was impossible right now.

"Probably. I don't really remember to be honest." He shrugged easily. According to Catharin it was impossible for vampires to have children. I asked how she knew and she just said _"Close to 60 years of unprotected sex."_ I was little grossed out at the idea of them banging but pushed it away in case Jasper was around.

"Right. Big haze for you." I nodded with a sigh and opened the door. "Guess its time I said bye then. Thanks for the ride, Em." I smiled back at him as I grabbed my bag and held it to my chest, preparing to jump. I took in a breath and blinked, suddenly Emmett was lifting me out of the car like usual. I was a little miffed as I pursed my lips and he sat me on the ground.

"What?" He raised a brow after he closed the door to his jeep.

"I was trying to jump. You weren't supposed to lift me like a toddler. " I glowered as he stared at me then started to chuckle.

"What?" I asked incredulously, putting a hand on my hip out of annoyance. His chuckle's quickly turned to full on, loud r **aucous** laughter.

"You're practically a toddler compared to me, babe." He snorted, grinning at me as he put an elbow on my head.

"You dick." I glared at him and thought about headbutting him in the balls. I didn't know if those were just as sensitive as before or what, but I was actually a little scared to try and wind up with a concussion. It'd be really hard to explain to anyone.

* * *


	14. Chapter 14

I ignored Rosalie for a good while, getting my tantrum out. I was better than she was though, she just glared at me every time I walked into the kitchen until Bella told her to quit it. She left before Charlie got home and I had to guess she visited nightly because I started to hear a lot more banging noises coming from Bell's room after Charlie started to snore.

Emmett got progressively farther with getting my clothes off, the only thing that kept him back was me remembering Rosalie was in the house. Well there was the fact that Rosalie was in the house and that I felt guilty as hell with Em.

I knew he'd started to pick up on it at random times, like when we were watching a movie last night. Bella, Rosalie and Charlie were all miraculously out the house at one time. I think Bells was shopping with her, probably for lingerie because goodness knows the girl barely had anything that nice.

Lips were trailing up my stomach as Jack drew Rose naked on his couch. What an odd way to bond, he drew her totally in the nude with a necklace on before he ever actually got to know her, and then the sucker just died. I felt his fingers start to creep under my bra strap, undoing it with a swift flick. He hesitated, drawing my eyes back down to his as he analysed for a affirmative anything.

"Kinda giving me nothing to go on here, babe." He smirked as I stared down at him for a few more seconds.

I swallowed deeply for a second before I shrugged, "Go crazy." I turned my attention back to the movie as his eyebrow raised up. Might go on to regret that. Might not. I kinda had all of zero background to go off of with a vampire and their sex life.

He seemed to shrug in return, sitting up and pulling his hands out from under my shirt. I figured he was out of the mood from my lack of involvement but instead I just felt him put wrap a hand around my torso and heard fabric ripping. He didn't...did he?

I looked down to see my breasts now totally exposed and the remains of my hoodie in his hand. My mouth dropped open out of disbelief, "Emmett!" I was trying to scold him but I was totally distracted by the feeling he'd elicited out of grinding into my hips so it really just came out as me moaning his name. Oops.

He growled in return, pulling me closer as he started to suck on my skin just lightly enough that he hadn't broken it. I was a little worried until he started to do the same to my chest and _then_ I was just gone in the head. I was lost in the overwhelming smell of pine needles and something like cologne. I went to move back a bit to give him better access than he had to me on the tiny couch but he growled again, this time it made me pause.

The pause was just enough time for him to push my head back down on to the couch while he kissed me hard. I didn't realize he'd made it all the way past my pant's button and zipper until he'd started to palm me. That brought out an outright moan that was probably into his ear at this point, it just spurred him on as he immediately after pushed three fingers into me at once and started pumping rapidly.

My back arched at the feeling, "Emm-" a second later I swear I came with him just fingering me. It was a new thing for me, usually took me ages to get off if there was another person involved. Now I'm kinda glad he'd been a womanizer, apparently he'd gotten the hang of it easy.

I think he might have said something when I went but I do remember him gripping me a little too tight and relaxing. I reconnected with what was going on around me after I came down from the cloud a few seconds later. Emmett was placing little chaste kisses all over my shoulders and chest. He looked relatively pleased as he took in my bleary-eyed expression.

"Not really all that crazy but it's a start while you're all squishy still." He grinned as he poked one breast and watched it jiggle for a second. I felt my face turn into a frown as I went to swat his hand away.

"Quit poking my boobs." I shooed his hand away for a second before I really took a good long look and realized he'd given me several hickies all over my body. I was still pretty damn distracted by the sudden orgasm in the middle of _Titanic_. This wasn't exactly a movie people made out with in the back ground. Too emotional.

"I poked _Trixie_ and the other is Marie." He corrected me fondly as he put his hand over my left breast and squeezed lightly before letting it go. "Plus it's fun to watch. Mine don't do that." He added as he lightly slapped one, shaking it even more.

"Guess not. " I mumbled as I pursed my lips. It stung ever so lightly but it also caused a wave of warmth to roll down.

"I think I want a shower." I sighed as I realised my underwear were wet and sticking to me now. I looked over my shoulder, back to the TV to see Rose sitting under a blanket, shivering. Damn we'd missed like all of the movie.

"I'd be down for a shower." He smirked suggestively as I looked back at him. He was cupping my ass and gave it a squeeze as he wiggled his eyebrows at me.

" _Alone_ " I deadpanned, looking at him.

"Aw." He pouted, letting go of my ass. His face seemed to look sad until he thought of something and gripped my ass again. "That's okay, we'll have plenty of time to shower later. " He added a squeeze as I raised a brow at him.

"I don't think so." I replied warily. I wasn't used to guys being around me almost 24-7. I was used to seeing them maybe once a week for a quick get together and that was it. I had my life all by myself for the rest of the week. They didn't call, didn't text, didn't show up outside my bedroom window...just kept their distance. I couldn't figure out why _he_ wasn't.

"Why?" He sat up, looking a little taken aback with my response.

"It'd be a lot of work." I shrugged awkwardly, turning to roll off the couch.

"That's a crap answer." He retorted as he stopped me with his knee, essentially straddling me now. Why wasn't he like the rest of the guys I'd messed around with? Why was he so damn persistent? Isn't he like 50 years old? Over half of my total possible life time and he was trying to spend his with me? Even though I'd be gone in like 5 decades?

I was a little overwhelmed with my questions and unfamiliarity. I felt close to him but distant at the same time. I'd technically let my guard down when I let him stay in my room while I was asleep but that felt natural. Most of my mind went "Hes going to hurt you," but all it took was that little tiny bit to go "But we can still try it."

I felt heat rise to my ears and crossed my arms over my chest as he stared down at me. "Let it go, Emmett." I was basically ordering him and we both knew it. He didn't move though.

"You're acting...funny." He commented neutrally. His eyes continued to dart as I fidgeted.

"Probably because you just ripped my shirt in half and now I'm cold and practically naked." I retorted heatedly, defensive sounding but it was just enough apparently. He pursed his lips and nodded, standing up fully. I turned to swing myself off the couch when he bent down and slid his arms under my knees and back.

He didn't say anything but kissed my forehead lightly as he went up the stairs. "I can walk you know." I felt a small smile drift onto my face as my feet dangled in the air.

"I know. I just like this more." He replied lightly, watching my eyes.

"Oh yeah?" I raised a brow, looking back at him. His face was mostly absent of any expression until his eyes became a little more lidded and he started to smirk.

"Mhm. You're absolutely helpless in my arms." He flashed a canine as I pursed my lips. I didn't feel any bit of fear like I was expecting, instead more heat just ran down as I took in the predatory look in his eyes. WELL THEN.

* * *

"Lyn. We need to talk." I raised a brow at the serious tone but slowly nodded. We were standing in a near empty hallway at the end of a school day. I was still getting over the whole guilt and cumming on a couch from yesterday and now he wanted to have a serious talk. Shit me.

"I've heard...rumors." He started.

"Welcome to high-school in 2004." I closed my locker and found him looking serious as hell with his arms crossed as he leaned on the lockers beside me. He didn't laugh.

"Well then. What rumors have you heard?" I sighed as I mirrored his posture, leaning on the lockers with my arms crossed.

"Rumors that Newton asked you to prom and you gave him a maybe." He gritted his teeth as he growled. I raised my brow at that.

"...and where'd you hear that?" I tilted my head, taking in his taut shoulders. He was totally angry but I wasn't sure why considering that Mike _had_ asked me but I never said maybe, in fact he never really finished the sentence.

"From Newton about 45 seconds ago." He growled, taking a few steps forwards as I raised my arms up in surrender.

"Hey, hey. He didn't even technically ask." I defended warily. He paused in his steps looking confused and incredulous. I continued 'till I hit a wall which was really only a foot away from him.

"He started but then it all kinda died and I found Bella and Ro-" I couldn't force the name out, swallowing out of disgust. "Ro-sa-lie, making out. Eugh." I felt my tongue hang out of disgust. He pursed his lips, taking me in and leaned down to my height. I stared back with a bit of confusion until his arms snaked around my frame and pulled me to his front.

He kissed me hard, it was a kiss out of relief but a bit of anger. "You better not tell him yes. My woman's not about to take a date that _isn't_ me. Understand?" He growled as he pulled back, his breath drifted over my face as I pursed my lips.

"Your woman?" I raised a brow when it processed, challenging his little claim. He seemed to have registered the challenge because he just pulled me closer to him, grinding into me against the wall. His head dropped from my eyes as I felt cold skin press against my cheek and a cold tongue drag itself up my neck while he sucked.

"O-kay. I get it now." I mumbled breathlessly. Somehow it was all caught in my throat as this giant guy pressed against my frame. I was litterally between a rock and a hard place...this this case it was a hard wall.

"Remember that next time you give out a maybe." He growled into my neck. I pursed my lips as I felt the question I'd been mulling over bubble up in my throat.

"Emmett..." I started, turning my head with the same wonder as to whether or not I should actually ask this. It was easy to just be someone's friend with benefits but I felt like if I'd asked, I'd be more than just his. I'd be giving it a name. A title.

"Never mind." I sighed as I shook my head. He pulled back, looking between my eyes.

"Just ask. You've had that look for like two weeks now. I like the I-just-creamed-myself one better." He smirked as his voice lowered. I felt blood rush up as I let out a slow breath to calm myself down.

"Fine. What are we?" I uttered the question with heat in a snap. He looked a little thrown by it, the smirk melting into a furrowed brow of confusion.

"What do you mean what are we?" He raised a brow, looking incredulous.

"Literally, what are we." I deadpanned as he moved his head back, still looking incredulous.

"We're mates. We're a couple. We're destined for great sex and a long ass life." He shrugged like it was obvious.

"I'm probably only going to live for like 5 more decades, Em." I sighed, shaking my head at him.

"What? I'm turning you. Well maybe not me personally, probably Carlisle or Catharin." He shook his head, taking a step back from me.

"I don't want to be like you. Cold and dead. Never changing. I don't want to repeat high-school for the rest of forever. It's like Hell." I threw my hands up, motioning to the hell hole that was Fork's high school. He looked incredibly confused now.

"Hells not so bad if you've got an angel with you. I've been looking forward to having my angel for a good 20 years now." He sounded accusative, like I'd taken something away from him. I raised a brow at him.

"You're better off with someone that's going to live as long as you. I'm not your angel. I want kids. I want a family at some point." I scoffed, looking back at him.

"I can give you a family, Ivalyn." He took a step forward now, taking my hand. He was starting to look a bit desperate.

"You can't. Cat told me so." I shook my head as I looked at him.

"Theres never been a human involved with one of my kind that's successfully lived. You're new and different, it's still possible." He shook his head quickly as I sighed. He was making his hard on both of us.

"Emm-" I started shaking my head slowly. "No. Give me time. Give us time. We can try and we'll see if you get pregnant. It's possible." He looked desperate now. I pursed my lips but nodded anyways. Why did I nod? I mean it was only a few years. I could easily find someone new after him.

"And if it doesn't work?" I raised a brow as his face tightened.

"Then...then I'll wait until you pass on and go after you. I won't interfere." He nodded as he let out a ragged breath.

"What? No. You can't just kill yourself after I die. Find someone to settle down with." I shook my head, incredulous.

"I can't." He laughed scornfully. "You're my one shot at forever. You're the one." He shook his head, looking down at the ground. He sounded like he was surprised he'd even gotten into this position.

"I can't be the one. I'm not like you." I scoffed, looking at his resigned face. It bothered me that he'd just resigned himself to killing himself after I died. That wasn't fair at all. Nor was it healthy, like damn.

"Thats just how the cookie crumbled, Lyn." He shrugged, letting go of my hand to stuff them into his jean pockets.


	15. Chapter 15

Something had changed between the Cullens and I. Something different. Something new. It was like they all regarded me with hesitance and even disdain. Really only Cat would actually look and talk to me outside of Em. Jasper regarded me with an stern emotional facade that I just couldn't see through, at all. I wasn't invited to their house again.

It was close to winter break by the time it really processed that Emmett was distancing himself. He didn't come around at night, didn't try to mess with me during lunch, didn't ask me out unless I asked for him to come over, he'd...he was pulling away. Away from me. What an odd thought. _I_ did the pulling away here, not him. H-he was supposed to just be there. I was used to him just being there.

I felt tears and anger prickling at my eyes. I was in English and Catharin was just sitting there as usual, doodling. She didn't need to pay attention, it didn't matter for her. Shit, she was a friggin' _doctor_. Her husband was a freaking _confederate soldier_. WHY WERE THEY IN HIGH SCHOOL? I jumped as I felt a cold elbow press against my own.

"Hush." Catharin hissed giving me a slanted look. I pursed my lips as I ripped a piece of paper out of my notebook and jotted down my message, _I need to talk to you_. I slipped it across the table and sat it in front of her. She gave an audible sigh as she opened it. She wasn't that fond of spending time around me after the whole Emmett thing a month ago. I watched her out of the corner of my eye to see her give me a short nod. Perfect.

I was antsy for the rest of class, just begging for that stupid bell to ring. It did and I popped up like my ass was on fire, shoving everything into my bag and trying to pull her down the hallway. I think we were out early because usually Jasper creeped around by now and he was no where to be found.

"Christ, what is it Ivy?" She looked exasperated. I pursed my lips not sure which question to ask at this point.

"Is it just me or is Emmett distancing himself from me?" I demanded as she raised a brow at me.

"Hes been doing it." She looked as though this should have been incredibly obvious to me.

" _Why_?" I huffed, feeling anxiety reach over my limbs. This was upsetting. I knew it but hearing it made it all so much more real.

"Because you're wanting things he can't provide and he knows he can't. We all know he can't but some how you've given him this little conquest for it and only then would you actually accept him, its setting him up for failure and false hope at once." She didn't appear as though she was _trying_ to be cruel but it was only making me want to cry more and more. I'm just really emotional right now, apparently.

"Look. I wanted that baby so...so badly. I almost had it in my arms when it was taken away, I didn't have a choice. I know it bugs Jasper that he can't give me one but that's just how life is. We've accepted that. If anything I'm glad." She shrugged, trying to lighten her voice. I raised a brow at her.

"Can you imagine Jasper trying to run around to find both me and a little girl or boy? He'd lose his effing mind." She snorted at the end, beginning to grin. I wanted to laugh at the idea of a bloodthirsty Jasper holding a baby girl but it just made my heart ache. It was impossible. It'd never happen, ever. For any of them.

"Well...you met Jasper when he was human. Right?" I raised a brow at her.

"Yeah. He was on his way back to camp. _Pretty_ sure I've already told our 'great' love story." She raised a brow, wanting me to get to the point with the air quotes. She had little patience for me these days.

"Was it hard on him? Did he have a lot of issues with the whole stuck forever in one great big nightmare thing? Or with you?" I sighed. There was no way to possibly ever frame this in a nice way.

"He...he didn't have a choice either. When we first met, he was human, yeah. But five years down the road, he was changed by another woman and disappeared from me for a good long while. That was hard." She pursed her lips, shifting the bag over her shoulder to the other one. It was a human mannerism that I figured she'd memorized.

"If you're wondering whether or not I fell in love with her while I was human, I did." Jasper's drawl startled me. How long had he been behind me? Wasn't I being avoided by the Cullen Clan?

"I didn't see her for a good 60 years, thought she'd died." I spun around on my heels and almost strained to hear him after how low his voice had gotten.

"Do you know what happens to us after we think our mates have died, Ivalyn?" He walked around me to stand next to Cat who opened her mouth but he seemed to have shushed her. I watched the finger he'd used to shush her move to wrap around the messenger bag taking it from her, slinging it over his own shoulder.

"You're depressed for a bit. We all do it after a break up, buddy." I raised a brow, not sure if I enjoyed the tone he was taking. It felt like he was scolding me by example if that was even possible.

"Yeah. I was depressed for a _good 60 years_. " His voice had turned dark as had his face. "I killed everyone that raised a hand to me or disagreed." He took a step closer, making me step one back. I used to think that Catharin would save me if Jasper finally jumped me but gauging how it felt now...She might actually ask him to break something to teach me the meaning of the pain I'd apparently caused her brother.

"Couldn't find a way to die so I fought, wandered for decades searching for meaning in somethin'." He took another step, getting closer to my face. He was beginning to look more and more like a dangerous predator than a southern gentleman that took his wife's bag or let her play dodge ball for a little longer because she loved it.

"And then what?" I raised a brow, as I whispered. No one in the hallway had taken notice of the part where Jasper Cullen was totally going to rip my throat open.

"I stumbled onto her again. Now...I don't let her out of my sight for more than a few hours and I'll kill anyone that tries to hurt her _or_ the people she loves." He leaned down, smirking. It looked like he was enjoying my waves of fear. I took another step back when he leaned down to me and stumbled over large feet, steadying myself on the hard body behind me.

"Jasper. Come on, man." Emmett's voice sounded behind me but he sounded tired, slow even. It felt like he didn't have time for this today.

"What? I'm just tellin' her about the consequences of her actions." Jasper rolled his eyes, taking a step back to where his wife was. I scurried like a scared little mouse to the back of him, wrapping my arms around his waist as much as I could. I hadn't really hugged him in maybe a week. I need to take better care of him. This wasn't exactly fair.

"Just quit it. Please. I've got to get her home." His hands didn't rest on mine, in fact he seemed like he was trying to avoid touching me, letting his arms hang from the elbows. Ouch. He didn't want to be around me. Wow. Okay. I deserved this but he didn't. It was time to make a move. But what move?

I just let go of his waist and turned, running through the hallway as it emptied out. Not my best decision but it was something, right? Maybe. I would have gone to Bella and just gone home with her but she'd been riding with Rosalie these days and there was no fucking way I'd sit in the car with her. The truck set on the driveway behind the stupid Toyota that Em had gotten me, neither cars were used these days.

Instead I just broke out into a full run through the snow, trying to slap a hat on my head while I ran alongside the road. I tried to glance over my shoulder to see that Emmett hadn't even left the building yet. With my luck I wouldn't see him till tomorrow morning. It didn't feel like he'd bother trying to find me anymore. I went into a brisk walk around the halfway point and found that I was freezing my ass off. I did _not_ prepare to be out in the snow whatsoever today. Shit.

Okay when I get home, I'll count my toes to see if they all made it. I mean I was like over halfway home by now so maybe I'd only lose the pinky toe. Awe. That was the cutest toe, though. Damn. Then I'd be off balance too.

I started to raise my knees a little, trying to get my feet out from under the snow in some attempt to save my toes in the tennis shoes I was wearing. Did not prepare well for this. At all. I moved farther away from the road as I heard a steady roaring sound coming up closer and glanced over my shoulder. I saw red out of the corner of my eye and darted off into the woods, trying to continue to go forwards.

I needed time to think and that meant he'd get his time away from me. I found the house pretty easily and slipped inside. I was alone in the house or so I thought.

Emmett took up a chunk of the kitchen table which had me wondering where the hell his car went but he seemed to barely notice me. Woooow, that bit hurt more than I thought it would. I hated this. I hate that it hurts.

"We need to talk." He sighed, not looking away from the window. He looked tired, like a 50 year old man in a 25 year old body. I felt my chest snap out of pain and just stared at him.

"Yeah. I don't want to hear it." I breathed out, trying to let go of the hurt.

"What?" His head finally turned away from the window taking me in with a raised brow. The dark circles under his eyes looked darker than usual, almost two purple bruises. Two black eyes.

He stood, walking closer to me as I took a step back and held up a hand. "Stay back." I was about to give him another black eye. It was always forever until it wasn't with guys. I've been a total idiot. I did this and now I needed to just deal with the consequences.

"Ivalyn-" He started, reaching for me. He didn't listen to me, he didn't even care enough to listen anymore.

"I said, **stay back**." I felt fury erupt as I grabbed the half wrapped box off the kitchen counter that had been sitting there since I'd turned 17 and flung it.

"You're going to have to try harder than that to hit me." He snorted, his arm outstretched as he grasped the box easily.

"Oh yeah?" I raised a brow, feeling my breath quicken as I ripped open my bag.

"HOWS THAT?" I started flinging pencils, balled up papers, a book, and other assorted junk I'd gathered in here since the beginning of the school year.

"Oh shit, fucking hell, Lyn! I was kidding!" He exclaimed as he could only catch the pencils, papers in one hand before the books and everything else just hit his shoulders and chest.

"I WASN'T." Eventually I just threw the empty messenger bag at him. I was raging at this point and some part of me was glad he was made of stone because otherwise I'd feel like shit if he got hurt...and that would just ruin the point of a rage.

"Ivie, baby-" He looked totally bewildered which just hurt more. Why couldn't he just drop it when he'd been pulling away from me for the last month? What kind of asshole _did_ that? All it did was give me hope when there wasn't any to be had.

"Piss off." I hissed as I turned and ran as fast as I could up the stairs. I'd never be able to actually out run him but I was hoping that crap in his hands would slow him down enough for me to lock the bedroom door. I slammed the door shut and flipped the lock, sliding my back down it until I could pull my knees up to my chin.

So that didn't go well. At all. I'd been an immature drama queen...but it hurt. Its hurts so much. This was why I didn't want to go far with him, _because_ it'd hurt and now it was all over. I'd failed the whole no emotion thing big time and I hadn't even realized it.

The door handle wiggled but nothing happened. He wasn't about to break down the door. "Babe? Please." I felt him knocking on the door.

"Stop _calling_ me that, we're over. And..." I breathed in, feeling tears prickle and trail down my cheeks. It felt like my heart was carved out. When did I even accept us as a we?

"T-thats okay. I don't blame you, it was all totally me. I just need time to deal." I bit down on my lip and wrapped my hands around my mouth and nose in some attempt to keep quiet. This situation had gone from bad to worse. I assaulted him with pencils and now I'm talking to him through a door.


	16. Chapter 16

I felt something heavy press against the door, sounds of cloth sliding against press wood until the floor. I had to guess he was sitting on the other side of the door like I was. "I...is this- did Cat tell you already?" He sounded taken aback but tired still as he sighed.

"Tell me what?" I sniffled through my hands.

"About the family thing." He continued sounding strained.

"I already figured out your family hates me." I rested my head in between my knees, letting my hair block out the pale light.

"They don't hate you. We almost had some serious problems this morning...I mean _Rose_ does but that's her. They're...worried for me. Its one thing to go around without ever meeting your mate but then to meet them and feel it al-" He groaned, sounding muffled now. It felt like he was rambling and it was only making me feel worse.

"Yeah I know. Its awful. You're depressed and angry forever and its all my fault because I die early and you don't." I cut him off, not wanting to hear it. He'd gone quiet for a while now, making me think he'd left. Great. Finally find one guy thats actually loyal and protective and sweet and I pushed him away one too many times and now I couldn't ever get him back and it was all my fa-

"Point is...I was actually talking about a family of our own, Ivie." His voice startled me as I took in a deep snotty sounding breath through my nose.

I opened my mouth to respond when he started talking again. "Are...are you _crying_?" He sounded surprised.

"No." I retorted shortly, wiping my nose on the back of my hand. That was gross. Not my best moment here, I'll be honest...not my worst though. My worst was more likely to be when I sprayed milk out of my nose right onto my boyfriend at the time. It wouldn't have been as bad if we weren't at a formal dance and his suit wasn't his favorite.

"Can I just come in?" He sounded concerned now as the door wiggled again, a weight pushed it against my back.

"No and if you try to break the door, remember I'm laying on it and I'll sue." I added shortly, wiping my eyes with my sleeves. It was pretty easy to sound mad when you were crying, the shakiness in your voice could be mistaken for rage.

"Please?" His voice was soft and sweet. He was trying to do that whole vampire thing where he lured me in with sweets into his death van.

"Go home, Emmett." I croaked, clearing my throat after. He let out a growl but the weight lifted off the door and it was quiet for a bit. It sounded like he'd left, honestly.

"SERIOUSLY?" I groaned right as my window lifted and he climbed in through it. He'd fixed the panel as promised a while ago but the white caulking stood out against the dark wood, surprisingly no one had noticed it'd even been broken.

I glowered at him as he crouched down in front of me. "You know that whole hiding bullshit doesn't work on me anymore, right? The nose is _always_ right." He declared loftily, tapping his nose with a small smile. It seemed like he felt bad for me and was now trying to comfort me. I sniffled again as I continued to glower at him and his stupid antics.

"I just broke up with you." I blurted out incredulously.

"Yeaah." He shifted his weight to sit cross-legged in front of me. "I don't roll that way." He shrugged good naturedly at me. I stared at him for a good minute with my brows furrowed. What was his deal? Why was it that the person that _didn't_ want to get attached, got attached, and then broke up with him, only to cry her eyes out while _he's_ totally fine?

"I actually wanted to talk to you about the family deal. I don't know if you've talked to Catharin but we're not sure if I can have any kids." His manner changed almost immediately, he started to look down at the floor with his voice strained. "I uh...spent some days at the hospital with Carlisle to check if my boys had any run in them and as it turns out, just as dead as the rest of me." He chuckled sardonically, throwing his hands up in a shrug.

"My point is that since our deal was to give me some time, t-to give us sometime and try it all out...well. I guess it's kinda over. I can't give you what you want." He looked up almost defeated looking as I stared at him. I didn't have it in me to say we were over for a second time.

"This is kinda the part where you say hit the road, Lyn." He was trying to joke but the smile was pinched. He was scared and I couldn't blame him. It'd felt like my heart had fallen out of my chest into my stomach when I thought he didn't want me anymore, in fact it kinda still felt like that. He'd put off our deal so the break up stood.

I felt my lip quiver as it occurred to me that I'd done all of this. "Right." I was shaky as I put my hands over my face to keep him from seeing me all teary. I really hate crying, it made my head hurt and then I have to deal with a tension headache for the rest of the day, and my eyes are tired and they hurt...I just don't like it.

"Hey...Come on, now." His voice was concerned and I felt cold hands lifting me up and setting me down on his lap.

"I'm sorry, t-this is all on me." I heard him shushing me as I mumbled then took in a deep breath, pulling my hands away from my face to look up at him. "I did this to us, I'm just awful at th-" I continued until I felt his lips on mine, stopping all the blubbering I was doing. It was bittersweet feeling as I tasted the same odd maple syrupy sweet Em.

"Hey. None of this was your fault now stop saying that." He pulled back, running his thumb over my cheek.

"But then why would you pull away if it wasn't me?" I was almost accusing him with a sharper tone and furrowed brows. If it wasn't me then it was him and this was just another way to break up with me, why would I listen to hi-

"I just panicked when I realised you'd have no reason to stay with me. You don't want to live forever, you wanted kids and to grow old. Shit I don't know if you even think I'm attractive anymore, with the way you hang around Newton now." He muttered, looking away from me up to my bed.

"Bella's always hanging around you guys and the girls here are kinda brutal...I didn't exactly have a lot of choices." I countered, pursing my lips. He looked back at me with streaks of guilt and frustration showing.

"I'm sorry, Lyn...Hey. Wanna hear something funny?" He shook my shoulders lightly, grinning. I raised a brow to signal I was interested, it didn't usually take much more to get Emmett to talk about something he wanted to talk about.

"Rose is having literally the exact opposite problem right now." He grinned as I stared at him for a few seconds.

"What?" I tilted my head from confusion.

"Bells is trying to become one of us and Rose isn't going for it." He snorted, waiting for me to laugh. I processed it for a second, I didn't really want her to become a vampire either but if that was her wish, then...I guess that was just it.

"Wow." I muttered putting my hands back over my face.

"Whats even better is that we've been in the house when shes trying to tempt Rose." He started chuckling at the memory, shaking my body as he laughed. "She'll go 'Rose look, doesn't it look good?'" He pushed his voice to go mildly high pitched in order to sound like Bella. I shook my head at his antics and sighed, letting my hands fall back to my sides. It hurt still.

"Whats wrong?" His face was twisted with concern as I took him in. I shook my head, not wanting to talk right now out of fear it'd bring on a new round of tears.

"Come _on_ , Lyn. Remember what happened last time you tried to bottle everything up and away from me?" He spoke seriously, looking heart felt.

"Emmett, last time is literally right now." I scoffed with an incredulous look on my face as I realised he totally meant that.

"But we kissed and made up...That means its all good now, right?" He insisted, shaking his head.

" _Lies_. You kissed me and then you said we made up right after I broke up with you so you couldn't break up with me." I scoffed, crossing my arms over my chest which was harder to do in his lap. Thank goodness for how big he was, other side I'd be slipping out the side.

"Why would I break up with you?" He questioned with confusion clear in his eyes.

"Because..." I opened my mouth then shut it and pursed my lips. "Because I'm not that great at relationships and I thought that was your idea?" I tilted my head, trying to formulate an actual answer.

"Babe...I love you but we've gotta talk more because you're really shitty with understanding what the hell I mean when I say forever." He shook his head, almost amused with me. This...this was not what I was expecting for today. I pulled up my hand, flipping him the bird as I returned to glowering at him.

"I'd love to but I'd feel bad for seducing you with my good looks when you're crying ." He smirked, kissing my standing middle finger softly and leaning back against the door.

"Oh good. At least you'd feel bad." I exclaimed with mock approval. He grinned but leaned closer, almost nuzzling my nose with his own. It felt like an odd sort of Eskimo kiss, like the kind my mom used to give us before we went to bed but so much more colder and rougher.

"Better now?" He looked intensely at me with concern, his body was still as he waited for my answer. I could tell he hadn't ingrained those odd little human mannerisms into his core like Catharin had.

"I guess so." I murmered with a small sigh as he frowned.

"You don't look better now." He contradicted, he didn't believe me which was fair. I looked like I was a wreck, I'm sure.

"Thats just because I just spent the last hour running through the snow to come home and scream at you then throw a lot of stuff at you _and_ cry. A lot. Lot of crying." I muttered, looking him in the eye.

"I tried to pick you up, I was going to do something super cool too." He huffed, looking back at the bed in front of us.

"And that was?" I raised a brow at him.

"Well you were walking next to the road so I was going to open the door and pull you in the car then speed off like the movies and stuff." He grinned as I deadpanned.

"Yeah, books like _The_ _Lovely Bones_ , where they're _kidnapping_ kids and murdering them. " I scoffed, raising my brows at him. He seemed to process that for a second.

"I'd love to see someone try to kidnap you. I'd _love_ it." He sounded like he was officially issuing a challenge for someone to kidnap me as he nodded, determined and grumbly.

"Well I wouldn't." I shook my head quickly with a snort. No thank you. I enjoy living in this house with my father and my sister and I'd love for my mom to be here but sometimes life just wasn't perfect. I'd rather not be in a basement somewhere, chained to a nightstand or something.

"I'd tear their legs off and then I'd go for the finger nails and teeth with pli-" He started to describe, almost sickening me when he got to the nail bit.

I plugged my ears with my fingers and started yelling. "LALALALA." He seemed to have stopped looking amused with a big toothy grin. I pulled my fingers out slowly, glaring at him.

"Can't stomach the pliers part?" He cracked, looking down towards me as I shifted to sit against his chest and shoulder.

"No. I can't." I deadpanned. 

"God, you're a wuss." He grinned, as I glowered back. 

"I am not." I rolled my eyes, looking away from him. 

"You're dating a guy that likes snapping bear's necks for dinner, babe." He snorted this time, amused with me and my issues. 

"Thats still up in the air." I muttered, mostly to myself as I went to roll away from him. His arms tightened around me, bringing me closer to his chest. I froze a little as his breath drifted over my neck. 

"Nah, you're still mine." He chuckled, sounding satisfied. 


	17. Chapter 17

"Hey." Mike Newton grinned at me as I stood next to my locker, pondering what I _really_ needed for Math.

"Hey." I nodded back, slanting my eyes towards him then back to the locker in front of me. I didn't _quite_ know what to do with him now that I was officially still a thing with Em. It felt too weird to just not talk to him but it also felt too weird to talk to him...He was a B-Friend. The backup team of a single guy that I didn't think would ever come around again after Em.

"You look distracted today." I dragged my eyes towards his and glanced back to the locker with a shrug. Awkward as balls. Christ, Ivy. Get it together.

"She does look kind distracted." I felt my soul try to jump out of my skin as Emmett's deep thundering voice echoed down the hallway and into my ear. I could see Mike jump out of the corner of my eye as well, that made me feel a little better...so I'm a little petty. I like it when other people are just as startled as I am.

"Hi, Emmett." I greeted him quietly, turning to face my locker entirely. I was trying to pick up the pace now...wait. I already have the books I need, why am I still standing here?

"I'll take those." My books were taken out of my hands quickly, leaving me to hang them down by my sides. Well there went the books excuse, now what was I supposed to do?

"So, what are you up to, Mike?" Em spoke deeply, I couldn't tell if it was an intimidation tactic or if he's just always spoke this loudly. He was probably always this loud and I just got used to it.

"Just hanging around." Mike glanced at Em and the books in his hand for maybe a second before he refocused on me. Didn't seem like he really took Em as much of a threat as I had originally thought he had.

"So I just wanted to clear up some details for prom-" He started as I held up a hand.

"No need to talk about this right now, lets go Mike!" I spoke quickly, moving to slap him on the shoulder as a show for him to follow behind me. I heard Em snort behind us as we got maybe about 10 feet away before I spun him around with a hand on his shoulder.

"Look bud, this..." I motioned between his and my own chest with my hand quickly, "This is just not going to happen. I don't mean to be harsh, but seriously if you keep this up, Emmett's just going to drop kick you and get it over with." I warned with thin lips.

"Are you saying this for me or for your sake?" Mike looked amused with a raised brow, as though I wasn't being taken seriously like at all. I stared at him for a second, a little confused.

"Uh, mostly for yours, dude." I reiterated that fact that Em was kinda not into his little schemes of whatever dance we had going on.

He shrugged, "I get that hes really into you and all but I just wanted to see if you were still up for getting shit faced after Prom." He chuckled nonchalantly. I was taken a little aback but how calm he was but I kinda just rolled with it after that.

"Uh...yeah. Sure." I released his shoulder going into a shrug. Guess that was pretty much over, whatevers. I shrugged again before just going back to Em's side.

He flicked my ear at first, when I ignored his weird mumblings into my ear. I gave a shrug off as he started giggling in an oddly manly way. I didn't think it was possible for a guy his size and weight to genuinely _giggle_ and still look manly.

"She's definitely distracted." He chuckled to Mike, leaning over me with his shoulder on the lockers.

"I'm not distracted!" I hissed at his laughter, he was always so jolly but right now I was going to be late.

Emmett's laughter subsided for a few seconds before he nodded to Mike. "See ya, Newton. We've gotta get to Math." I felt him pull me along by my hand as I gave a haphazard nod towards Mike's bewildered face. Seemed he wasn't into chatting up Mike.

I sat down into my seat and watched with some mild interest as Emmett shimmied himself into his desk, making sure not to bend the metal bars or crack the presswood. He raised a brow as he met my eyes, slowly realising what I was snickering over, "Hey. I can't help it I'm built, if anything you should be happy about this." He gave me a short wink and leaned back into his desk, looking amazingly relaxed.

This had to have been practised...I wonder if they just have a bunch of school desks they all practice getting in and out of for a few days...I feel the need to go snooping in their house now. I glanced at Emmett's smooth face as his eyes caught mine, forcing a half embarrassed/half caught smile out of me.

"So...Imaginary numbers. What are they?" I turned my attention to the front with our professor squeaking out some words in chalk.

* * *

"Swan." I rolled my eyes at Rosalie's greeting. At Least she said it to my level of hearing this time, right? That was probably something good.

"Come on, Rosie. Be nice." Bella's sickly sweet voiced made my face squinch up. Oh god, Bella's here. Time to act like a nun around Em. I started scoping out a place to sit away from him before we got all the way there.

"She already promised she'd keep her hands in her lap, Ivalyn." Edward's hollow sounding voice swung up to my ears as I darted away from watching her gross hands stroke my sister's leg.

"Thats _not_ her lap." I grumbled, mostly to myself. I turned, thinking about just going and sitting with Mike and Angela only to be pulled into Emmett's lap. I was startled for a bit feeling significantly like my world was just rearranged in a millisecond but found my spot awkwardly nonetheless. The word 'Hypocrite' was ringing around my head for a little bit after that.

"You should eat that, Ivie." His voice wasn't quite as loud as usual, instead he seemed to be trying to whisper. I looked down at the plate of green beans, rice, and chicken. Meh. Kinda lost my appetite after seeing a puppy love scene happening right in front of me between my sister and that hag woman...okay that was mean but at the same, _screw her._

"Meh." I shrugged, poking at an oddly pale green bean. That can't be good, right?

"Come on, baby. For me? I'll eat a _whole_ bear for ya." I snorted at his promise, feeling him smile into my shoulder. Meeeeh, I guess I will.

The green bean crunched unnecessarily loud in my mouth, making me want to gag when...vegetable juice? Possibly vegetable juice squirted into my throat. It was like the world's worst blowjob all over again. Catharin shared a look with Jasper in some mirth as I rolled my eyes. She always knew too much...which was weird considering Alice was technically the resident psychic.

"There. Now you have to go eat a bear." I determined, looking at him from the corner of my eye. He just gave me a thumbs up with a grin.

"Emmett, thats not actually enough food for someone her size, she needs a lot more." Catharin jutted into the conversation making me glare at her with some ferocity. I was kinda in love with the guy but I didn't need him _knowing_ that I didn't fully disclose some information. She just gave me a sweet smile and laid her head down on Jasper's shoulder.

"You heard the woman." Emmett grinned, looking back at me from Catharin's look of amusement.

"Uh no. This would be like eating a a rotting bear. 'Kay?" I held the fork up to his nose, watching it crinkle out of disgust.

"I'm just saying, I need your energy to be up in a bit." He retorted with a slow grin forming as my eyebrows crinkled out of confusion.

"Why?" I asked incredulously. It took me only a second to recognize that I'd fallen into his trap.

"I've got quite the libido, babe." He winked, smirking at how quickly my eyes darted to Bella and my ears filled with blood out of pure embarrassment.

"I'm going to go grab a water bottle." I mumbled and stood quickly, trying to not trip over his gargantuous legs.

I sort of just speed walked it to the line and hopped in, it was closer to the end of lunch so while it wasn't _as_ long it'd still take me some time to get to the front. In this time it seemed I'd attracted the attention of nearly all the people I didn't really want to attract. In particular, Jessica and Mike.

"So what are you guys doing tonight?" Jess winked awkwardly, her eyes strayed between Mike and I. She seemed nervously enticed, but also like she wasn't all that into talking to me right now.

"Uh, probably just going to go home." I shrugged awkwardly, as Mike seemed to roll his eyes.

"Boring for a friday night. You should go to this party Jess and I set up for fall break." Mike looked a little worried until I nodded. I'd actually forgotten that was happening this week. Shit dude, thanksgiving was coming up this weekend.

"Sure, why not?" I shrugged, his face relaxed but oddly enough Jessica's darkened then lit up when she made eye contact with me.

"Well thats just...great! I'm uh...I'm gonna go sit down." She put a hand lightly on his arm but he didn't seem to notice it at all.

"I don't mean to be dick or anything, so its totally cool to invite Bella and..." He looked back over his shoulder at Bells, sitting on Rose's lap. "Her girlfriend over there, but uh...could you maybe _not_ invite Emmett? He's kinda giant and kills the vibe." Mike shrugged, looking hopeful as I pursed my lips.

"Babe. What are you two doing?" A deep voice and a heavy arm was tossed around my shoulders as I stood there to think about what I was really supposed to say to Mike's request. I should have guessed he'd have popped up when I was left here to talk with Mike.

"We're just chatting here, big guy. No worries." Mike and I made eye contact as he answered first, cracking a wry grin. Like we had our own little secret now, too bad he had no clue Em could hear my stomach gurgle from across the school if he really wanted too...going to pee has just become officially _more_ awkward now.

"Right." Em matched his cheshire smile with little warmth, eyeing the human boy with little regard. Emmett seemed to focus on grabbing my water and flashing a dimpled killer of a smile to the cashier as he came up to her with me in tow.

"I like the new hair cut, Beth." He motioned to the brown hair that clung lifelessly to her face as she moved her head...Oh god, it doesn't really move with her.

"I can't believe you noticed! No one has." She waved a hand at his compliment, in some attempt to flirt. I wasn't sure if I was offended that it felt like I didn't really exist in this girl's fantasy life where both her hair looked nice and Emmett was into her or that I just simply needed to let her have this.

"Of course I noticed, you got a whole inch chopped off." Emmett bantered back and forth with this girl as Mike and I awkwardly stood there.

"So how much do I owe a pretty lady like you?" He finally finished off this _weird_ dream conversation for this women. She blushed, hard. Ignoring my existence entirely as she waved him away. I guess I hadn't really realised that Em _was_ attractive to other women...women outside of me. I don't think I like that.

"Oh it's nothing for you, honey." She giggled, shaking her head at his compliments. This cannot seriously be happening right now. Does she not _see_ his hand on my waist?

"You should try a BYOB party next time, dude. It'd be free for me." Emmett flashed Mike a great big grin as he pulled me closer to his side, handing me the water he just got for free. I felt his lips hit the side of my forehead as Mike looked me in the eye with a slightly annoyed expression. I just shrugged awkwardly, still a little thrown by what just happened.


End file.
